Royal Water (ZNT/XC2)

[sander093]

Aftermath
“So how is she.” Duke De La Valliere stood just behind Princess Henrietta De Tristain as they stood a few feet away from the bed where Agnes De Milan lay.

“Recovering from what the healers tell me. The worst of it is behind her. They managed to remove the wooden splinter without any complications, or smaller splinters being left behind.”

“....I just wish I could have been of help. All these years of study, and when the chance to use what I've learnt came to pass..... There was nothing for me to do. I... she was my responsibility and I failed her.” The princess lifted up her arm, bandages wrapped around the stump where her hand once was. “That's always how it's been, all that I am, and I can change nothing..... Agnes, she put herself in danger for my sake without a second thought, and I couldn't do a thing for her in return.”

“She was your guard, she knew what was required of her and discharged her duty with honour and courage.” On top of the actions of her two 'weapons', they had provided invaluable assistance to the defence of the palace during the attack. KOS-MOS was standing over her incapacitated master, while Herald's core had been placed on a nearby table while her body slowly grew back from said core.

“Louise... She was a better friend than I ever deserved....” He stood dispassionately as his daughter was brought up, even now it was still hard memory for him. “She didn't even hesitate.... When I called she came, took up the task entrusted to her with nary a pause. And she died for it.”

“She took after Karin far more than either would admit.” A musketeer came into the room and handed him a letter, she gave a salute before heading off. “General Garmont is ready.”

“....Let us be off then....” The Musketeer who had taken up Agnes position due to her incapacitation, fell in behind the princess.

Centurion let out a sigh. The princess hadn't been in the best of states since the wedding attack, loosing her mother, and nearly loosing a woman who was for all intents her confidant... And now she was queen in all but name, seeing as most of the regency council was dead, either by the attack itself or having turned traitor and become part of the attack. Outside of the Captain of the Gryphon Knights and the minister of Farming, all of them were gone.

In some ways it was for the best, as it mean that Henrietta would be unopposed while exercising her power.... In others.... She was now in charge of it all at once, outside of the two who survived. And he supposed himself and Garmont, as acting Minister of War and the Interior respectively.

He hoped Garmont had some good news.

A soldier garbed in Garmont colours waited outside the door, and saluted the three of them as they arrived. “He's waiting inside.” The soldier opened the door and waved them inside.

Inside the room Garmont was sitting on a sofa with a table in front of him, on one side of the table was some tea and tea cups alongside a platter of snacks. On the other was a map of Tristain with several markers set upon it. “Princess, Valliere.” Garmont gave a curt nod to the two of them, while gesturing to the sofa set up on the far side of the table from him. “I took the liberty of having refreshments prepared. This may take some time to go through.”

“I do hope you have better tidings than what we have been able to provide from the palace.” The princess stated as she took a seat on the sofa with the aid of the Musketeer. Centurion took the other seat on the sofa facing Garmont.

“Some good, ....some bad.”

“...The bad first.” Henrietta asked. He poured the princess some tea before seeing to his own cup.

“Well, Reconquista has us outnumbered in terms of ships and total troop numbers. And given that they managed to take the Albion fleet mostly intact, an advantage in strategic manoeuvrability, with better ships mind you. Best shipwrights on the continent working for them, all of our best ships were purchased from Albion over the years. Add to that most of them have gotten a least a little bit of combat experience during the civil war. I doubt it's evenly spread out, but most of them have had a taste of battle compared to our troops, who are almost all green outside of a few pockets.”

“And there's nothing we can do to remedy this?”

“In the time before they invade, no. The alliance with Germania was supposed to give us at least a numerical advantage..... We know how that turned out.....” Yes they did.... The emperor and queen dead along a few dozen others of import.... The heads of both nations effectively gone, Germania was even now teetering on the brink of civil war, perhaps it had even begun given how long news took to reach the Tristain capital.

“You have ideas, I hope.”

“Some, I do have good news, however little. While Reconquista has their advantages, we have our own. Mages for one, Tristain has more mages than any other Blessed realm. And not only that while most Albion mages are of the wind element, we have a greater diversity in elements amongst our mages. Meaning that we will not only be deploying more mages, we have a greater variety of tactics available, while Reconquista will mostly be limited to wind spells.”

“Then there are 'weapons', Reconquista had publicly renounced them, though given Captain Agnes experience, they still make use of them. We know that several were captured in the fall of Londiminum, but we don't know if they've have since been reawakened. I'm making our plans on the assumption that they have full use of them. For us, we have fifty-one attached to various soldiers in the army itself, and further eight in the naval arm. That number does not include those who've been bonded into various households nor the Palace, Valliere.”

“Three from the Musketeer corps, and eighteen scattered about various royal houses. Plus the one unawakened one the Captain recovered. Of those we can count on the Musketeer corps and about half of the household ones. I will try and convince Karin to come out of retirement and lend us her support, alongside the 'weapon' she awakened. So we are likely to have 'weapon' superiority, though how much good that will do us is questionable.”

“From what information we got from the battle of Londominum, they can interdict ships if they fly close enough. Another thing was just how much of an overmatch a single 'weapon' is for any dot or line mage, even most triangle mages struggle in a fight.”

“And from the fight in the palace, a 'weapon' of KOS-MOS or Herald's calibre can cut a swath through lesser mages and commoners with relative ease. Even if they were untrained and uncoordinated, none managed to provide any challenge for Herald. All information leads me to believe we have an advantage in numbers of higher calibre 'weapons' as well.”

“So in short we lose the conventional battle, but win the mage and 'weapon' battle.”

“A short summary, yes Princess.” Garmont picked up a letter that had been set on the table. “This also came this morning.” The letter made it's way into the hands of the Princess. “It seems our neighbours have fallen into a civil war of their own, some duchy's are vying for the imperial throne, others are looking to secede. One of the latter approached us, the Von Zerbst's are looking for an alliance of sorts.”

“What kind of an alliance....” Just what was Zerbst planning.

“He appears to be looking to forge his own path.... The alliance he proposes would be of benefit to both of us. We get a secure border on the east, which will free up some troops, on don't give me that face Valliere. We will need every soldier we can get, and most of those are already trained. Zerbst will get much the same, as long as we can provide his eldest daughter and heir a good match.” If it wasn't from a Zerbst it would be very reasonable request.

“A pity we can't have her pick from the courtiers who normally pack the court.” Yes, that would have been one of the better ways to handle Zerbst's proposal.

“Yes, that would have been for the best..... How have the families of the deceased reacted to the deaths of those second, third and fourth sons who were part of the mob.” Garmont asked.

“I have made it clear that they were useful fools for Reconquista's plot, that has soothed over most of the public complaints. From those we questioned afterwords it seems as most were told that Reconquista had taken the Palace.... So it seems only a small number were actual Reconquista agents... But we have no idea as to who was, and if any survived Herald's attacks. Though that does bring up something else. The question of Herald herself.”

“Powerful, but if she did indeed go wild on her own....” The general trailed off.

“That is a question that will have to wait until both Agnes and Herald are well and whole again. It is an issue that will affect a lot of what we doing going forwards, I will however note that this is the first case of something like this happening. So it probably does not affect all 'weapons'.” Henreitta affirmed.

“As you wish your highness. I just pray it does not bode for the ill.”

“As do I general. For Zerbst's proposal, I propose we accept. At minimum it means we won't have to be looking for an invasion from the east while we fight Reconquista. Any disagreements.” The Princess looked at Garmont than himself, both shook their heads. “Then we best be looking for a suitable match then.” The Princess let her words hang in the air as she sipped her tea. “Reconquista's invasion. I assume you have a plan.”

“Several, but that all depends on what they do....” Garmont gestured to the map and began to lay out several routes the war could take.

..........................................

Captain Desain looked out the window onto the courtyard of the palace, it had been just over a week since the wedding and Reconquista's attack upon it. On paper it had been a Reconquista victory, the alliance with Germania was no more, as was the country from the latest news to reach the capital. And a large portion of the Tristainian upper nobility lie dead.......

In truth, as far as he could tell it had cost them practically all their agents in the capital to pull it off, and all of their assets within the walls save himself. And the only reason he survived is that he had been near the gates when the attack took place and had no chance to aid the attack. He certainly hadn't been able to contact any of them through what channels he knew of. And while the attack had in theory killed off a large number Tristainian nobles..... Most of those were almost more use alive, pulling upon and otherwise hinder the Princess response to Reconquista, some could have perhaps even been subverted.... Now they were dead, and the Princess was free to put people loyal to her in their place.

Valliere, Garmont, Mott...... All had been spared from perishing at the wedding, whether by virtue of not being present, such as Mott and Garmont, or sheer luck in the case of Valliere..... They were alive and well, would be near impossible to subvert and were at least competent.

And to top it all the whole country was slowly being united around the Princess after what was being called a 'cowardly' attack by Reconquista. Which was turning into an influx of volunteers even after their numbers had been thinned during the attack, though at least it would mean the reserves would deplete faster.

He would have to get into contact with the rest of Reconquista to lend aid to the invasion.

A part of him wondered if just maybe he should quietly back out while he could..... The rest reminded him of what the Princess was turning this country into.

...........................................

Henrietta stood in her late mothers study.... Late Mother, that was something she was going to have to get used to wasn't it. The study itself was well kept, not that she expected that to be any different, she just hadn't been in here in a long time. And it was soon to be her study when she was officially coronation, when she became Queen.... Crowned by the Duke de la Valliere.... Something that should have been done by her parents.....

She shook her head. There was no use dwelling on things she couldn't change.

Instead she looked around the room. It was fairly similar to her current, now old study. A single desk sat opposite the door under a rather large window, with a small side table, a quartet of chairs had been set around them. The two walls on either side were obscured by mostly full bookshelfs, she couldn't even guess at how many priceless tomes sat amongst those shelves. And all of it covered in a visible layer of dust.

“Nui, it appears as though we will need some maids in here eventually.”

“Figured as much, the Queen rarely left her rooms these past few years.” Sergeant Nui was serving as Agnes replacement while the latter was laid up in the medical ward. She walked up to the desk and ran a finger of her remaining across it, coming away in a layer of dust.

“We should catalogue what's in here first before the maids come in to clean up.” She knew there were plenty of people who would gladly make of with her mothers books, and none of them were above slipping a maid a few coins to make it happen. Such as the book she spied on the desk. “Bring the books over to the desk one shelf at a time and make a note of where you found them.”

Moving over to the desk she picked up the book, leaving the dried out ink and quill for later, there was nothing on the front or back indicating what exactly was inside. There was however a piece of paper slipped into the middle of it, like a bookmark of sorts..... She contemplated whether to start at the beginning of the book or the where the bookmark was.....

Setting the book down she decided to see what was at the bookmark. Holding the book itself down with her stump, she used her good hand to open the book and began to read. It looked to be a water spell formula of sorts..... Complete with crude but diagrams...... All in what she recognized as her mothers handwriting......

Ohh..... Her face began to heat up as she read on. Why, why would her mother have been working on something like this....

“Princess?” Nui dropped the first set of books on the table beside her, along with a some papers detailing where the books had been removed from. Henrietta was however to busy looking over just what her mother had been working on, as a blush began to form on her cheeks. Nui moved to her side and looked down at what she was reading. “Oh my....”

 

[ATP]

So,Reconquista purged most of useless gentry for Henrietta.How...nice .

 

[sander093]

Calm Before the Storm
“No... Please don't even consider it.” Princess Henrietta sat across from Duke Valliere, she had presented the spell her mother had been working on, to quite a quite predictable response. Part of her had wanted to scrap what was written then and there and forget the entire thing existed. Another part refused to destroy anything her mother created out of respect, but hide the book and forget it even existed.

The part of her that won out was the part that wanted to see if the spell actually did what her mother described. “Even if you cannot bring yourself to destroy the passage than at least forget about the spell and never open the tome again.”

“I understand....” She looked at her mother's tome that was laying on the table. Beside some tea and biscuits that Nui had set out for the two of them.

“Was there anything else of value in the tome.”

“A few variations of several advanced spells. Nothing too amazing, I am planning on learning them.” When she had yet to determine, but they were her mothers spells so she would at least learn them.

“Good, good. But don't forget your regular studies, and keep a few of the nastier ones to yourself, you never know when a spell very few people know how to easily counter will come in handy.” She had listened to and read enough stories to know that.

“Speaking of learning magic, how is the recruitment of mages into the army going?”

“Slowly, as much as clearing out the courtiers has made administration less of a mess, it also means we can't throw them into the army. Leaving us with a much smaller pool than we would have otherwise. And it's not like we can draw too heavily from the countryside, as most of those mages have other preexisting duties I don't want to leave shorthanded at this time. However it's not all bad, we still have the raw numbers to fill out a company and a bit, and as per your instructions I've opened the all positions to women. Not many in the combat units, but enough in the auxiliary’s that they've freed up more men for the front.”

“And how are the traditionalists handling it.”

“The threat of Reconquista is keeping them quiet for now, though I expect that after this is all over they will push to things return to how they were before. I can't say at this time how that will go, though there being fewer of them thanks to Reconquista's attack has certainly helped..... But first we must make it through this war.”

Henrietta gave a solemn nod. While Tristain had advantages, Reconquista had it's own including more and better ships, more trained troops..... And they were fully mobilized, while Tristain was rushing to get it's own troops ready. “Will Karin be joining us?”

“I sent her a letter.... And I don't doubt that she will answer the call.... But I don't know if it will be in time.” They had a few ships out watching the approaches from the White Isle, none had reported Reconquista sailing for them just yet.

“I wish we could have parted on better circumstances.” Karin having stormed out after news had arrived of Louise and Wardes perishing.

“As do we all.... I... Understand why you choose Louise, even if I wished you hadn't.” Part of her agreed, though.... How would things have played out if she hadn't sent Louise on that mission, Louise and Wardes would both still be by her side. But from all appearances they had gotten the letter from Wales, and who knew how things with Germania would have gone if the contents of that had gotten out before the wedding. Too many pieces to know..... “For 'weapons' and their masters..... Garmont has them all in a single unit, with the commoner masters being trained as musketeers as he figures that will keep them back from the main line, and alive the longest. They will still have some guards troops, and will be mostly a reserve force.”

She couldn't find any fault in the reasoning or plan, at the moment at least. She just hoped Garmont or Valliere found any flaw before Reconquista did. “Thank you for the update.”

“It was my pleasure Princess.... Now if you'll excuse me. There is still work to do.”

“You have my thanks Count de la Valliere.” The count got up and left her alone with Nui, standing just behind her. “That went about as expected.”

“Too much hope pinned on the alliance with Germania. Not enough of our own military preparedness. Now we're trying to make up for lost time. Your mother's spell getting puritans panites in a twist. Yeah, as expected.” Henrietta was privately thankful that the rest of the Musketeer corps were willing to be frank with her in private as their commander.

“How much of a fool I've been.”

“Well you were investigating Reconquista well before anyone else even took them as a threat.”

“Only because of Agnes....” How much worse would this have been if her dear guardswoman hadn't happened upon tax collecting oddities, which had alerted them to Reconquista's activities. She took a sip of her tea, it helped with her nerves. “What do you think of my mothers spell, Nui?”

“I certainly wonder which lady she intended it for. I could make guesses..... You want to know if it works don't you.”

“Part of me doesn't, but I know I'll keep thinking of it until I know for sure. The implications.....”

“Would certainly send the clergy into fits. A woman being able to sire children, I can already imagine the shrieking from the 'upstanding' sorts. Though I know that more than a few of the ladies would be more than willing to try it. Heh, reminds me a bit of where I used to work before this.” She could hear the smirk on Nui's face.

“Ohh....?” Outside of Agnes, the rest of the Musketeer's were a mystery as to what they had been doing before coming into her service.

“Hee.... Used to work as a hired hand at an estate. Until the daughter of the lord took a fancy to me, and wanted some fun.... Lasted about a year until the lord came in and found her with me bent over a table. Obviously I got fired on the spot and got sent away, worked a few odd jobs until the Captain recruited me.”

“I'm surprised the lord didn't execute you for that.” Her mind went over the list of nobles with estates to try and divine who it could be.

“Hah, he wanted to, but his daughter complained rather loudly. Something about how it wasn't fair that her brothers were around to fool around with the maids and she wasn't. Threatened to shout it for all to hear as well.” Henrietta was glad she didn't have any tea in her mouth at that moment.

“Oh dear.”

“Yeah, if she hasn't changed she would jump at the chance for your mother's spell. If it works....”

“Yes there is that....”

.....................................

Karin de Valliere tested the weight of the sword-wand with a few experimental swings. It had been some time since she had taken this particular one out. Orks required a heavier and longer blade than what she made use of against human enemies. With a quick slash she sent a wind blade at a nearby target, it was acceptable. She dearly wished that she was not so out of practice, war was not a game.

“So you decided to in the end.” The letter from her husband had arrived two days before and she had spent the time since getting ready for her departure.

Karin turned to where Zenobia had come down to watch her. “It is my duty.”

“Meh, don't really care why, just want to fight. Orks were getting boring anyways, and I've been stuck here for the past few weeks.”

“I did not want you to come.”

“Yeah, you said that. You're going somewhere you're likely to be in danger so I'm going to keep you safe, cause if you go than I do as well. And I'm getting bored, so even if you told me to stay behind, I'm going to follow you anyways.”

“Fine, but you will to as I tell you.” Zenobia rolled her eyes in response. “This is war. Going off on your own will get our own soldiers killed. So do as you are told Zenobia.”

“Fine, fine. But if you're in danger, I'm going to come running.”

.......................................

Henrietta stepped up beside Agnes bed in the infirmary. Her captain was feeling a bit better after being stuck in bed for the past few days. “Princess....”

“It is good to see you better, Agnes.” And indeed it was... Agnes had been a constant by her side for years now. Agnes gave a nod of her head as her gazed roamed over Henrietta.

“You weren't hurt....” Agnes gaze fell upon her missing hand... “Princess! Your hand!”

“There was nothing that you could do.”

“I swore to pro--”

Henrietta put her hand on Agnes lips. “Poor luck, if you hadn't acted when you did it would be more than a hand.” Agnes looked away. “So please do not blame this on yourself.”

“I could have done more....”

“So could everyone else.... But we didn't. And you did more than anyone, if it hadn't been for you we wouldn't have even been aware of Reconquista being active in the capital. And your actions did save my life.... That splinter they removed from your chest would have gone straight into my head if you hadn't been there.” Or near enough to make no difference.

Agnes remained silent. KOS-MOS standing over her opposite Henrietta. Herald lay upon another bed as her body reformed. An interesting sight, it looked similar to how they had appeared that first night, save slowed down considerably.

“That being said, given how close Reconquista came to taking my head. I've been discussing with Nui some potential changes to my security.” She placed a hand on Agnes stomach. “For instance, stationing a guard in my room.”

Agnes looked to the hand on her stomach, then back up to her with a cocked eyebrow. “I'm sure we could sort out a schedule for who would be assigned. Shouldn't be too much trouble for a second bed to be----”

“I think my Captain of the Guard will be enough.” She moved her hand a bit down Agnes stomach. “And will another bed truly be necessary.”

Henrietta saw the moment Agnes eyes lit up in understanding, and the blush that spread on her captain's cheeks. “That's..... Princess!” Henrietta let a faint smile creep onto her face. “The rumours, the impropriety.”

“Half the castle is already convinced that we've slept together at least once.” Or at least according to the rumours Nui had deigned to pass onto her.

“Rumours! Rumours Henrietta. Ones that can easily be dismissed, what you propose..... That would be impossible to dismiss. And the inappropriateness..... I'm your servant, to do something like that with you.....”

“You haven't said no.....” Directly at least. “If you didn't need to worry about rumours or inappropriateness what would you say Agnes de Milan?”

“I... I do have to think of those things, so unless you intend to order me into your bed. Forget this idea.”

“I would never order you like this Agnes---”

Someone burst into the infirmary, drawing all eyes to them. A musketeer, coming running up to them. “Princess, I regret to inform you that Reconquista ships have been spotted departing the White isle.”

.......................................

Charlotte De Gualle walked up to her uncles throne, Sylphid and Caeus following behind her. Both sides of the chamber were lined with various members of her uncles court, come to watch the unwanted child pay a visit. Charlotte paid them no mind, instead focusing on the three figures on the throne dias itself.

In the center was her uncle, King Joseph de Gallia, sat upon his throne. His pale blue hair was combed to one side and came down to the white fur accents around his neck. A dark blue overcoat hung off his shoulders and was open in the middle to reveal a white shirt with his crest sewn onto it in the middle of his chest. On his legs he wore a white serrated skirt with gold trim over black pants.

To his left was Isabelle, her cousin and Joseph's daughter, sitting on her own chair. She wore a dark blue dress with white and gold cutoffs, one that perhaps dipped a bit to far down her chest. Her long pale blue hair sat underneath an overly large and ornate crown, a circlet of gold set upon white fur and encrusted with jewels set upon it. She was also eyeing Charlotte with a devilish grin, compared to Joseph's dismissive gaze.

But it was the figure standing to her uncle's right that drew most of her attention. A 'weapon', there was no doubt in her mind. Porcelain white skin, with black hair done up tight, one eye covered with an eyepiece over one eye, a pale blue glow emanating from it. Her neck was obscured by a black collar with a blue crossed shaped jewel in the center, below that was a tight fitting white bodice. She wore black pants with a white flowers printed upon then and knee high white boots with heels almost as long as her calves. All of that was encased in the metal outline of a hoop skirt. Her upper arms were clothed in white with a purple additions and extra coloured flowers on her shoulders. Her stomach, lower right arm and upper right leg were replaced with metal cages containing a glowing blue crystal.

She reminded Charlotte of a puppet, though given the way she stood next to Joseph....

Coming to a stop at the feet of the dias that held the throne, Charlotte took a knee. “I have returned as you commanded, King Joseph.” He had long since drilled into her the proper way to address him.

“And the task you were given.”

“Completed. The rogues who were raiding the roads have been killed to a man.” She didn't feel the need to mention the group's 'weapons' that they had acquired at some point.

“Hmpf, and the reports of, unusual members?” Did he know, or suspect anything?

“No unusual encounters were to be had at the encampment.”

“Yet you appear to have gained, a new familiar.” She followed his gaze to Caeus, right this would be the first time that she had brought Sylphid's familiar here. “She does resemble those mentioned by traders who had been robbed.”

“She was awakened months prior.” It was even the unvarnished truth.

“Hmmm, Why did you not mention it.”

“I did mention that I had acquired another companion in my travels.” She just never stated whether that member was permanent or not, while making mention of Kirche. Wasn't her fault if her uncle mistook the two.

Her uncle was silent for a few moments. “So you were the one to awaken her.”

Charlotte considered for a moment how to answer, claim Caeus as her own or admit that she was bound to Sylphid. She was Sylphid's, there was no point in concealing that fact. “Sylphid awakened her.”

“Is that so.” Her uncle went quite for a minute. “I have your next assignment.”

“I am at your command.” Good, the sooner she got out of here the better.

“Kill Sylphid.” Her head snapped up. What! “Have you become so hard of hearing that I need to repeat myself. Strike down your familiar.” He, he couldn't be serious! “My patience is not limitless.”

Gritting her teeth behind closed lips she prepared a spell.... Then she raised her staff and-----

There was a sound between a hiss and a buzz, along with a loud crack that she had come to associate with Caeus's cannon followed by the sound of crinkling ice. She saw her uncle slump forwards, his chest almost entirely gone and replaced by ice, and even more ice scattered on the wall behind the throne. The 'weapon' that had been standing on his right was turning into motes of blue lights.

But her focus was on the lack of feeling in her right arm, time slowed as her head turned painfully slowly to look.

To where her right arm ended halfway down from the shoulder.

Then time snapped back and she heard a dozen screams, Sylphid roared and something large and heavy slammed her into the floor.

 

[ATP]

He....He....He....HERESY !!!!!!!!! Saito should get harem and impregnate Agnes,not Henrietta !!!! AUTHOR,HOW COULD YOU ????

That aside - thanks for good chapter.

 

[sander093]

Clash at Tarbes
Her master was dead. Of that Sheffield had no doubt. The familiar bond that had become a constant of her life was gone, not muted, or distant... But simply gone. She had read up upon enough literature on the subject to know what that meant.

King Joseph of Gallia was no more. She was unsure as to how, that thing should have been more than able to keep him safe, but obviously not. Her vengeance would have to wait for now, given that she was attached to the Reconquista invasion fleet and had no easy way of departing at the moment. She would have to pull a disappearing act once they arrived and make her way to Gallia from there to find out what had happened to her departed master. And then take vengeance upon those responsible.

“Lady Sheffield.” She turned to see the captain of the ship at her door. “We have almost arrived at the landing point.” Good that meant, she was almost done with this trip.

“Is anything amiss?”

“No Lady. The outriders already brought the local village under control.” And had most likely taken liberties with said village. Well it wasn't like she was going to be staying with this lot for much longer. “From there it will be a simple march to the port.”

Simple, not easy? She supposed even Tristain would recognize the value of the port city, and takes steps to defend it. Not truly relevant to her as she intended to be gone by then, but useful to know that she would have to travel overland either to another port or all the way to Gallia. Both options carried risks, but she would have to decide later. “And Tristain.”

“...We spotted a few of their smaller ships when we left port, so we should assume that they'll be moving to intercept. We don't yet know what they'll be able to bring. But nothing more than their navy should be able to arrive before we've taken the port, and we can easily defeat whatever they can bring to bear with the new cannons.”

“And what of Tristain's 'weapons'.” The cursed things had both helped and hindered her masters plans, depending on who wielded them.

The face that went onto the captain's face told her all she needed to know. “We know how to deal with them now, their devilry won't be affecting our plans.”

No, Sheffield thought, those 'weapons' would very well affect Reconquista's plans.

.........................

The rumbling of the coach's wheel slowly died down as they came to a stop in front of half a dozen mounted soldiers. Zenobia looked them over from her place beside the coach master, the soldiers wore the livery of Tristain, but her master's warnings kept her wary. While she wouldn't mind a fight, these guys didn't look they would be much fun.... “Identify---”

Something large and heavy landing beside the cart signalled the arrival of her master's familiar with her master riding on top of it. The soldiers flinched back a bit at her masters arrival. “And just who might you be.”

The lead soldier regained their courage first. “Outriders under the command of Count Elaryis, part of General's Garmont's army.” Army.. Oh that could be fun to fight.

“Duchess Karin de La Valliere.” The soldiers eyes widened. “And my Retainers. We're to join up with the army, take us to them.”

“Yes.... My Lady, I will have one of my riders guide you to them.” Aww, no fighting, still joining up with the army meant there was a bigger fight looming.

........................

Garmont looked through the spyglass at the Reconquista fleet moving to intercept his army. It was both good and bad news, bad in that they would be forcing a battle, before he had gotten all his forces in position.

Good in that he didn't have to chase them down, and given how early they had moved out it gave him enough time to get what he did have in position. He lowered the spyglass and turned to the messenger beside him. “Inform admiral Vire to go with deployment C.”

The messenger gave a quick salute and ran off, as Garmont turned back to look at the approaching fleet. In a traditional battle what forces he had wouldn't have a chance of beating what Reconquista was bringing to bear.

So best not to let this be a traditional battle then.

...........................

“Looks like the general gave the order to deploy then.” Agnes de Milan observed as the airships hovering above them began to manoeuvre. “Which means we need to be ready.” She looked over to where Corporal Elise stood by with her 'weapon' Kanaha. KOS-MOS and Herald were waiting just outside the perimeter of their little encampment inside the main encampment of general Garmont's army. The former having finally fully reformed her body this morning.

The princess insisting on accompanying the army had lead Agnes and the rest of the Musketeer squadron being brought along. A few of them had tried to talk Henrietta out of it, but she had insisted, and eventually caused herself, Valliere and Garmont to relent. Chief amongst Henrietta's arguments had been one of morale, having their monarch along would inspire the troops. But mostly it was bringing out several artifacts from the royal treasury that required a member of the royal family to use. Ones that would be useful int the coming fights.

A messenger ran up to the encampment, Agnes looked to him. “The General has ordered all 'weapons' to deploy.”

“Tell the general we're on our way.” The messenger gave a quick salute before running off. “Elise with me, Nui, bring it out.” She went to the entrance to the encampment where her own 'weapons' were resting, Elise and Kanaha falling in behind her.

“Are you sure this is wise captain?”

“Entirely, no. But it's a gamble that has to be taken.” Nui met them just outside the entrance, a small box in her hands. She carefully opened the box to reveal the softly glowing blue crystal inside. The one they had recovered from the 'weapon' who had come after her, then went and killed her own master.

“Should we be bothering with this one Captain? She did try and kill you after all.” Agnes looked at Nui then down at the crystal sitting in the box.

“We need every one we can get.....” She glanced at KOS-MOS, Herald and Kanaha. Herald having donned her armour, that surprisingly hadn't needed to be reconstituted. “We're ready in case she doesn't obey.”

She reached in and took the crystal out. The moment her fingers touched it she felt a tingle go up her hand and through her body, while the crystal began to glow brighter and brighter....

Then the light coalesced into a humanoid form. Lavender eyes behind half rim glasses locked onto her, the woman threw her pale white hair to the side with a black gloved hand. “I am T-ELOS.” A polearm in her hands, the polearm consisted of a black staff with a spike at one end and an odd looking head at the other. She gave it a twirl before planting the spike into the ground. “Are you my master.” The move caused her dark skirt to flutter around.

She looked identical to the last time Agnes had seen her, wearing what was almost a dark recolour of what KOS-MOS wore. “I am....”

“Hmm...” T-ELOS leaned in a little close. “Something the matter master.”

The other three 'weapons' had readied their cannons. “...Their is questions about your loyalty.”

“Oh... do tell.”

“Do you not remember, you did kill your previous master after all.”

“I did? They must have been a poor master then, I do hope you prove better.”

“...Do you not even remember what you were trying to do to me?”

T-ELOS shook her head. “Master, we do not remember events of our previous lives.” KOS-MOS had returned her cannon to it's holster, which also caused T-ELOS to take in her surroundings.

“Hmm... You've certainly got quite a few interesting individuals following you Master.” Thunder echoed in the distance, it seemed the battle had begun.

“We don't have time for this now. We have to get to the front...” She focused on T-ELOS. “That includes you.”

“~Yes Master.” Agnes gave a grumbling as she lead the way towards the front, any other problems would have to wait for now.

...........................................

The soldier had been leading the carriage along the roads when the sound of distant thunder reached them and her master called for a halt. It seemed like there was a battle nearby, one Zenobia hoped she could join. Zenobia watched as Karin dismounted from the manticore. “Get my armour out, I'll be needing it.” A small smile went over Zenobia's lips, finally. While she hadn't minded the time spent with her master, not having something to fight, was a bit aggravating.

From the sounds of it she would soon get her wish. The trio of servants who had been brought with them lept into action, taking out pieces of armour for her master to wear into battle. Armour, not something she really bothered with, very few things she liked to fight hit weak enough for armour to make a difference, best to dodge or block for those. She grabbed her axe from where it was strapped to the top of the carriage, beat re-summoning it when she didn't need to.

A few minutes later and her master returned, ready for battle. “Zenobia, you'll be riding with me.” Ah, to battle, finally. Lifting her axe onto one shoulder she lept into the air, her arc putting her onto the manticore's back, just behind her master.

“So you got a plan?” She would at least hear out what her master intended first before going off and doing what she wanted. Instead of answering her master urged the manticore into the air.

They flew through the air for a few minutes, the carriage growing distant behind them, before Karin spoke. “We'll make for the main camp of our armies, going in without knowing what has been planned will just lead to confusion. From there we'll follow whatever assignments we are given, do not go running off on your own understand.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Sounded boring though. “And if we don't make it to the camp first?”

“If, if we are engaged on the way use your barrier to shield us.”

Zenobia looked down at the manticore the two were riding on. “Barrier is going to be a little small, and cut into this guy.” She tapped the manticore with one of her feet.

“Can you make it larger?”

Could she? She gazed upwards, best to try away from their mount. Ether flowed out of her.... And she pushed it even---

[ERROR: Out-of-bounds exception: Ether conduit limit reached.]

“No.... But...” Couldn't get a bigger shield, but what about a smaller one.... That could be an option.

[RECALCULATING BARRIER...... DEPLOYING.... STABLE]

Her familiar shield appeared above the two of them, though covering a far smaller area than normal. “I can make a smaller one...”

“...That will do---”

“DODGE!” Her warning came just in time, and in a testament to her master's experience she wasted no time in sending the manticore into a dive, avoiding the green beam that sailed over head. Following the beams ether trail she spotted a ship peeling off and heading in their direction, one of the larger ones from the look of things. “One of yours or theirs?”

“Theirs, sail set up is what's used on the White Isle, continental sails are arranged differently.” The manticore changes direction again as another green beam goes sailing by. “Disengaging here may prove difficult.” As if to emphasize the manticore changed direction again, avoiding yet another blast.

“So running away then?”

“For now yes.”

“Better idea. Get me above that ship. We won't get anywhere until it's dealt with, so drop me on it and I can clear it out. Just remember to pick me up afterwards.”

Rather than answering, Karin guided the manticore through another turn to avoid another shot. Though she did begin to move towards the ship while slowly gaining altitude. A quick use of her barrier caused the next shot to explode on contact, the smaller barrier shattered with the explosion, but far enough away that they weren't harmed. She could also throw it out faster than her big ones.

A bit more flying saw them directly above the ship. “Here's good.” And without waiting for a reply she lept. Immediately she could feel the wind rushing by, sending her hair and skirt ruffling. She let out a laugh, this was it, this was what she lived for, why she existed.

A lance of green shot up towards her, quickly she threw out a barrier, intercepting the attack. Using a bit of wind manipulation she dodged the next shot that came her way, it wasn't enough to fly like her master, but it was enough to change the course of her fall. She dodged and block the next few shots as the ship grew larger, and the shots became harder to dodge.

With the ships masts looming before she used one last push to set her final direction, any more and she would miss her target. Blocking one last shot with her barrier she channelled ether into her axe and picked her target..... That mast looked perfect. Twisting around a bit she swung at just the right moment for her axe to dig into the top most beam of the mast.

Glowing with ether her axe cut straight down through the beam and surrounding ropes. The sail immediately began to sag on the one side and the few taunt ropes whipped out... But her focus was on the next beam down, her strike on the first beam having caused her to spin opposite the direction she had swung. So she followed through and timed her next hit came in from the side, the beam, although a bit thicker providing no more resistance than the first one.

Then the deck was, her last blow sending her feet first into it, right in front of poor sailor, who a moment later found himself in the path of her axe.

[WARNING: Ether Lock]

She sidestepped the green beam that nearly took her head off, and watched it detonate inside a raised structure on the ships deck. Ether lock, she could use that.... She put the mast between her and the other 'weapon' for a moment, then reversed direction when she felt the attack coming. A small smile of satisfaction crossed her face as the beam burned through the mast leaving a smouldering hole behind.

Charging forwards she used her axe to clear a group of sailors that had gathered to oppose her, their armour proving to be of no use against her ether infused axe. Sidestepping another shot she continued on, her target standing out from the rest of the sailors.

She stood out, not only with the ether cannon shaped in like an oversized musket, but that her dark-blue uniform came with a skirt rather than pants. The glowing sapphire blue crystal embedded in her uniforms collar along with the ether Zenobia could feel flowing around her insured she stood out to Zenobia's eyes at least. Pale green hair drifted back and forth in the wind, while chestnut eyes bored into her.

“So the fool arrives. You saved us the time of retrieving you after your master is gone.” Zenobia didn't stop even as the other 'weapon' spoke, dodging the shot her opponent managed.

“Heh, you speak as though you're going to win here.” Her opponent began to back up, still letting off the occasional shot, with two of them gathering ether from the same area, neither could really fight at full strength.

“You laugh now, but you will become another blade for lord Cromwell.” The leader, not the movement, interesting. She had closed the gap and brought her axe down.

......................

It was chaos as Tristain forces clashed with those flying the Reconquista flag. Agnes de Milan hung back directing fire of a few dozen Musketeer regulars as KOS-MOS, Herald and her recently awakened T-ELOS danced in the middle of the fray. She had taken over the musketeers after their sergeant had fallen earlier in the battle. Elise and her 'weapon' had stayed with the main group of 'weapon' masters.

That it meant her 'weapons' could fight without her safety being a concern was of secondary importance. The melee she and her adopted musketeer's were firing into had dissolved into chaos, what should have been neat battle lines had instead devolved into a mud soaked circle of blood and bodies. T-ELOS danced at the edge, picking off any who bore Reconquista regalia, something she was proving disturbingly good at. A reminder that the 'weapon' could have easily killed her back during their first encounter, only her focus on other activities having allowed Agnes to live.

KOS-MOS and Herald had circle even farther out and were engaging both targets on the ground and any airborne enemies that strayed within their range. Even managing to down an airship.

For her musketeer's, she was having them focus on the enemy skirmish line, the melee was too mixed to even try and fire into it. She was still watching it in case Reconquista troops tried to breakout towards her. She was also keeping an eye on a Reconquista ship that had broken off earlier, KOS-MOS had confirmed the presence of a 'weapon' on board. The other 'weapon' that her own had detected was somewhere on the ground, Herald had volunteered to try and intercept.

Several shouts of alarm alerted her to something going wrong, she was in the process of turning and bringing her pistol to bear when something knocked it out of her hands. Or in this case who, and Auburn haired woman stood before her, looking at her with teal eyes behind a pair of glasses. She was wearing a beige jacket with purple highlights, with a sapphire blue crystal peaking out from her black colour.

“So you're the one who awakened her.”

 

[sander093]

Old Friends
Zenobia jumped to the side as a beam of green energy thundered past her before striking the deck of the ship. A small explosion erupted from the impact point sending splinters and an unfortunate sailor sprawling, legs cut apart by the splinters. Things were going as planned. Dropping down she let the next shot pass over her harmlessly. Rushing forwards low she readied herself for the next shot.

With a grunt of frustration her opponent sent the next shot straight at her head. She leapt over it at the last moment, doing a front flip in mid air she brought her axe down in an overhead strike, aimed to cleave her opponent in two. With a dismissive wave the other 'weapon' brought up a golden hexagonal patterned barrier, she gave a smirk, perfect. Pushing off the shield she back-flipped to avoid another shot.

“How, annoying. Do you even intend to take this fight seriously.” Zenobia just grinned in response to her opponent, this battle was almost hers. Just a few more shots. Leaning back and folding her knees she slipped under another shot. Popping back up she swung her axe in a lazy horizontal arc, giving her opponent more than enough time to raise a barrier and block it. “Pathetic. Are you that incapable of fighting.”

“You sure?” Zenobia pushed off the shield to move herself out of the way of the next shot, but she was a little slow and the beam took off her left arm just above the elbow. Tsk, may have spoken too soon. Her opponent smirked as she dug her heels in and came to a stop to avoid the next shot, not out just yet.

...And if she was right.... The next shot never came, Zenobia could only plaster her face with a large smile. “Problem?”

“What! Why.....?”

Now. “Weren't you paying attention.” With her remaining arm she swung her axe in a horizontal arc, ether gathering around the head. “To how much ether there was in that air.” Nearly all the ether she had been absorbing since the fight began was channelled through her axe....

And into the ship's main mast, the ether allowing her axe to tear through the thick timber with ease, sending a shard of splinters scattering in the direction of her strike. “Besides you weren't my target.” With a loud wooden groan the mast came crashing down onto the deck, which having been already partially wrecked by a blade firing random ether shots into it, gave away beneath the heavy timber. Zenobia flashed her opponent a smirk as the deck buckled and splintered, she got once last glimpse of her opponents surprised face before she used the rest of the ether she had gathered, to leap into the air.

Vaguely in the direction her master was in, Karin would have to swoop in and pick her up. Beneath and behind her the ship continued to fall apart, the mast having fallen all the way through all but spiting the ship two. She could see mages struggling to stop the collapse, but..... She watched several cannons join the rain of wooden planks falling to the ground. The ship was at the very least completely out of the fight, if it even managed to stay in the air.

A sudden jerk marked the end of her flight as she found herself caught in a levitation spell, rotating her head around to where the bond said her master was. A winged beast growing in size rapidly. Looks like her master had caught up. After a moment of being manhandled through the air she found herself on the back of her master's Manticore.

“Reckless.” Karen chastised her, turning her head back to look at Zenobia, trusting in the manticore to keep going. “There was no need to engage that ship.”

“Took it down didn't I.” Beside who had put her in position to drop down on top of it. “Sides, we weren't going far with that ether cannon active. Had to drain her ether, ship was just a bonus.”

Karen kept her gaze on Zenobia for a moment longer before turning away. “You did take it down.... I suppose it will help in the battle.” Zenobia took one last look at the airship, or what was left of it, now completely split in two. The two halves wobbling slowly downwards, the mages on board probably doing all they could to keep what was left from crashing too hard into the ground.

“Yeah, you should----”

[ETHER SPIKE DETECTED]

Her gaze was torn away from the falling airship and high into the sky. “Zenobia?”

[ETHER CONCENTRATION:LOW-MODERATE.... MODERATE..... MODERATE-HIGH]

“....Something big is coming.....”

......................

The crack of her pistol rang out. The woman, no 'weapon' in front of Agnes merely raised her hand and projected a barrier to stop the round. But Agnes wasn't still while after she shot, dropping the spent pistol she drew another one from her belt alongside her knife, her legs weren't idle either quickly stepping back to give her distance to work with.

“How, rude. Shooting someone you just met.”

Not letting her guard down, she looked into the 'weapon's eyes. “Who are you?”

“Ohh.... She never mentioned me?” Who was the 'weapon' talking about.

“Who?” Before the 'weapon' could answer a shot of blue light flew in from her left, it was stopped by her barrier but nonetheless drew her attention away from Agnes. A moment later another 'weapon' came in and tried to tackle the first, this one looking like a golem rather than human.

“Rude.” The first 'weapon' sent several blasts at the second. Most were stopped by a barrier, but a few got through, striking the 'weapon's skin.

“This way.” A hand landed on her shoulder, thankfully she hesitated on shooting him long enough to see the Tristainian coat of arms on the shoulder of his uniform. “Kruz will keep her busy a while yet, it would be wise not to get between them.” The second 'weapon' Kruz, swung the base of his cannon at the other 'weapon's head, missing but forcing her back.

She wanted to object, but the rational part of her mind noted the wisdom of that statement, she had seen how powerful 'weapon's were, a commoner like herself had no place in a fight between two of them. So she allowed herself to be pulled back to a safe distance by the raven haired man as the two 'weapon's continued to fight. “He yours?” The female 'weapon' jabbed at Kruz, who moved his cannon into a vertical grip between his hands and caught the outstretched arm. Kruz then twisted around dragging his opponent in close.

“Oui mon ami. Didn't expect the sapphire gem that fell into mon possession to prove quite so interesting.” Yes that was one word for them. The other 'weapon' had pulled away from Kruz and fired a barrage of blue bolts into him, a few straying away, but most finding purchase in his grey skin. “It hurts to see him like this.”

“I've seen them come back from worse.” Herald had been back together after having her core ripped from the rest of her body. Watching the battle she kept her pistol ready for an opening, on the off chance that she could contribute.

The female 'weapon' took a step forwards and gave a heavy kick to the stunned Kruz sending him sprawling. “Did you believe you could win?”

From the ground Kruz answered. “Didn't need to.” The female 'weapon' had a moment to react before a beam of thunder struck and then shattered her hastily raised barrier. Which opened her up to an airborne Herald to fly in and grab her head with her armour's arm. With head in hand Herald swung the female 'weapon' around like a toy, slamming her into the ground several times.

Now there was definitely little she could actually contribute to this fight save staying alive. The female 'weapon' didn't give up, sending blue bolts into Herald's armour, the sheer bulk of the armour and inability to aim properly. After slamming the other 'weapon' into the ground a few times, Herald used her other hand to grab the other 'weapon's chest then pulled her arms apart. The sound of ripping cloth and cracking bones filled the air for a moment before Herald tossed the other 'weapon' aside in two parts. Then to ensure it stuck, her 'weapon' brought her armoured foot down on the other 'weapon's head.

And then it was over. “We should check on ours.” She started forwards, the other soldier following just behind her. “I never got your name?”

“Scarron.”

“Agnes.”

“Like the princess's guard?..... Oh.” He didn't ask for more details.

“Herald, is she dealt with?” She noted Scarron moving over to where Kruz was leaning on a limp.

“Not moving, we will need to keep her chained somehow..... Or find her master.” So far they only thing they had come up with to deal with captured enemy 'weapons' was to bury their core...... And then hope they couldn't get out of that. Herald's head snapped up.

“Herald?”

“Ether......” She followed Herald's gaze and witnessed the sky shattering.

.............................

“Princess!” Henrietta ignored the musketeer as she strode out of her tent. The sacred wand Gangsamur clutched in her remaining hand. The sounds of battle had finally gotten to her, the plan had been for to wait until called upon to aid.... But she could stand it no longer.

Her subjects were dying for her, and here she was sitting back here and doing nothing. So she was going to start aiding the wounded now rather than later. She looked at the pair of Musketeers standing guard by the entrance to the royal encampment inside the camp for Tristain's army. “Take me to the healers tent, I've tired of waiting around.” The pair looked at each other for a moment before moving, one moving aside while the other moved to lead her to her destination.

Then a sound like a cross between shattering glass and distant thunder echoed out. Henrietta didn't have to look to know that everyone around her had stopped moving for a moment. Her focus shifted to the air above the main body of the Reconquista fleet, where a great white cloud had exploded out. The cloud continued to billow out at an altitude higher than any airship could reach, and in it she could just about make out a small dark shape moving about.

A dark shape that was falling towards the Reconquista fleet, it quickly left the cloud behind. It looked to be a pointed oblong heading straight down as the white cloud spread out above it, becoming more of a mist. About halfway between where it had appeared and the Reconquista fleet, smoky trails flew out from several points on the object. All heading towards various Reconquista ships. Several seconds later those trails impacted the ships, all the targets became engulfed in smoke and began to tumble from the sky.

What? Why.....? Yet more trails emerged from the shape, and those struck yet more Reconquista ships....

“Get me to the General.” Was this one of his tricks? A card held in reserve? It didn't feel like it, nothing they had could do what the dark shape was doing. The pair of musketeers she had ordered to take her to the medical tent were now leading her towards where General Garmont had set up his pavilion.

After the second volley the Reconquista ships began to move, but by then it was too late as the dark shape was upon them. Firing off one last volley then running straight through the flagship, from this distance it didn't even look to have slowed. Then it disappeared from view. Just what had that been.

General Garmont was already outside surrounded by a gaggle of sub commanders. “Princess!” The general turned to her. “What.... No, I take it you saw it as well.”

“Yes, not something of yours then.”

“No.... Though it appears to have turned the tide for us.” And indeed it has, the dark shape had taken out over half the Reconquista fleet, and given that most of those lost ships were on the larger side.... What was left was fleeing the battle, leaving their troops on the ground without support. “Hopefully this will mean that their ground forces will break as well....”

A distant rumbling from the direction of the battle cut off whatever else he was going to say. Before anyone could say anything she gripped Gangsamur in her hand and headed off towards the battle, her guards let out shouts as they followed her. The rumbling grew closer as she reached the outer edge of the camp..... The source being a massive object it's top peaking above the trees and it dragged along the ground, and heading to the side of the camp.... Was this what had fallen from the sky?

It was a bit odd looking, mostly made of a black metal with a prow made of a silver-gold metal. The prow went above the top of the rest in sort of a miniature tower, with what looked like a quarter of a spike wheel on it's back. Further back was another tower, shorter than the other and more rounded, there was also poles sticking out from various points with ropes running between them and various points on the object. Several boxy objects also sat on the top of the object, each one having several holes on one side.

The object slowly ground to a halt outside the camp not far to where she was standing, her guards along with Garmont and his entourage joining her. Up close, the object was far larger than her first impressions, being a mere dot against the sky, easily the size of the largest airships that sailed the Halkeginian skies. It's black metal frame now dented and cracked from where it had come down.

Then a door she had missed on the side of the object flew off, and then landed on the ground with a heavy metal thud. Steps made of water began to form in front of the new hole, allowing several figures to emerge from inside the object. Her guards and several soldiers quickly formed a defensive line, ready to repel any attack.

Henrietta instead opted to remain where she was and observe who was emerging. The pair taking up the rear were odd, a beige furred round creature wearing odd blue and white clothing, being help by a purple haired girl wearing a black and white uniform with a few red highlights. She also had what looked like metal legging and a pair of large metal gauntlets attached to her waist. Behind that pair was a second pair, consisting of a small silver haired girl in a short white dress hanging off the back of a large bear walking upright.

Then there was the girl with short pale-blue hair, wearing a dark-blue tabbard and trousers with a small white shirt. Several bronze plates and blue spikes dotted her outfit. One turquoise eye was visible while the other was covered with a black eyepatch adorned with a blue spike coming out of it. At her hip was an a blade with an overly large hand guard.

Then the last two... Her heart skipped a bit as they led the small procession towards her, and the rest of the Tristainian forces. The second one had a pair of overly large blonde twin tails ending it hair drills, with a pair of blue bangles at the tip and her head topped with a small blue crown. Her very scandalous blue outfit topped with white frill shoulders and skirt, topped with a silver gemstone held in a collar around her neck. A short and thick white lance rested at her side.

The lead figure wore a rough brown leather jacket over top a grey shirt, then a pair of dark pants with matching for her bottom. Pink eyes found her own as the girl strode forwards, paying no heed to the soldiers arrayed in front of her. She half heard the manticore land somewhere behind her, as the figure approached while reaching into her jacket and retrieving a worn sealed envelope. Short pink hair swayed lightly in the fleeting breeze as the girl held out the envelope to her.

“Prince Wales of Albion bade me to deliver this letter to you.” The people behind her were silent as she accepted the offered letter, awkwardly using her stump to help hold it in her good hand alongside her wand.

“How....?” She was cut off when an explosion came from the object followed by a cloud of smoke.

“....Tora can fix that.....”

...................................................................

Soft white clouds stretched out before them. “When I get my hands on that pink haired little brat.....” Jin tuned Malos out as the black haired Aegis ranted about what he would do to Mythra's driver when they caught up with them. Instead Jin took the time to gaze out over the could sea, he always appreciated just how calming and serene the sea could be.

The loss of the Monoceros..... Was concerning..... Given the blade bots and core crystals stored on-board. That pink haired kid...... They had in a single stroke set Torna back months. Malos's black armour clacked as the Aegis fumed in place, their improvised raft lacking the space for pacing.

“Cressidus, row faster.” Malos turned and looked back past Jin to where the giant of a blade sat at the rear of the raft.

“Yes boss.” Red hair shifted as Cressidus lifted the oar out of the water, then back in. Pushing their raft in the direction they had last seen their ship heading..... Though Jin was of the opinion that they should see about heading toward the Marsanes hanger......

“Hey, let me----” The blond haired blade-eater's, Mikhail's complaints were cut off as Cressidus dunked his driver back into the cloud sea.... It had been the fastest solution that they had come up with to chase after their stolen ship..... One that none of the rest of Torna, who were now being held up by the multi-armed Perdido, the only way they could fit everyone on board.

Perhaps they should have seen about liberating a titan ship from Mor Ardain instead. Probably would have made better time overall.

...................

AN: Would you believe that the last part was one of the first scenes I came up with back when this was still just a concept oh in late 2017 early 2018..... It's changed a bit since I first thought up the concept, but I'm glad I could still keep it.

 

[ATP]

Great coming,but from which story they come?

 

[sander093]

Debrief
Henrietta set the teacup down beside the letter the late Prince of Wales had sent her, and looked at the other occupants of the table. To her right was Duchess Karin de Valliere and her husband Duke Centurion de Valliere, Karin's 'weapon' Zenobia stood behind the pair. On her left sat General Garmont, a pair of advisers standing by behind him. Across from her sat her old friend, Louise de Valliere, to her left sat Sheba, her 'weapon', or well first 'weapon' given the other two Louise had bonded to her during her adventure, who were standing behind the pair. And to her right, Tora.......

The round creature was too short for a chair, so he sat in the lap of 'his' golem maid, 'weapon', thing..... Louise herself hadn't sounded too sure when trying to explain just what it was that he had apparently created. He lifted the tea with one of his 'wings' rather than the stubby little arms at the side of his body and too a sip, before setting the cup down and speaking to Louise in the language of his people.

“Tea taste funny.”

Louise replied in turn. “That's cause it's real tea, not that gunk Yew insists is tea.” She would need to endeavour to learn the language at some point.

“Still taste funny.” Louise gave a short huff before turning to her. “I don't suppose Viscount Wardes is around?”

“I'm afraid that your late fiance died the day you went missing. What did happen that day?” All they had been able to learn was that the ship the pair of them had been on, exploded mid flight.

Louise mulled over the question before answering. “So he's dead then.” She gave a nod in return. “He had turned traitor.” What!!!! “I found him trying to send your letter off to Reconquista, and when I asked he admitted it, and when I refused to join him he attempted to strike me down. Obviously he did not succeed, however..... We did end up on Alrest, and it took some time to return.”

“Traitor!!?” He had been the captain of the guard..... Just how much had he shared...... If Louise hadn't...... The wedding could have ended far worse than it did.... It did explain how Reconquista had gone unnoticed for so long, he had never been informed of Agne's investigation had he..... If they had informed him..... It was no coincidence then that the real progress had only been made once the viscount had left for his trip..... “No.... That does explain why Reconquista had been able to operate freely..... And why....” She rubbed the stump of her arm with her good hand.

“The rest of the traitor's made their move?”

“Yes, they choose the day I was to be wed to the emperor of Germania...... While the traitors were dealt with..... I'm afraid they managed to succeed in their goal in preventing us of uniting with Germania to stop Reconquista. And with the death of the Emperor so suddenly, Germania has fallen apart into civil war.” Her fist tightened, she wondered how much of that was planned on Reconquista's part, effectively taking out Germania out of the fight before the first battle. Even with their victory, things weren't looking good, they were still outnumbered, and still trying to get the country on a war footing.

“Those dastardly cowards.... I take it that's when....” Louise's gaze dropped to the stump of her hand.

She set down the tea and rubbed the stump. “It was, if Agnes hadn't acted....” Well given where that splinter had been pointing, she wouldn't likely be here. “And then if your father hadn't arrived when he had.... Minister Richmond was the leader, and he personally came to ensure I didn't leave the cathedral alive. Justice meted out then and there, and while we couldn't put the traitor himself to the question, his office yielded plenty.” A pity they had learned very little new information, but confirmation on what they had already learned was nice.

“Did you manage to rout Reconquista at the capital?”

“Those we could find, though there always remains the possibility of there being agents unknown to us.” Honestly she would be more surprised if there weren't a handful still around. “And now they've made their first strike against the country proper. Though thanks to your arrival we've beaten them back for now.”

“It is my pleasure Princess. Though I must warn you, the Monoceros won't be going anywhere soon. It never could fly all that well, and Reconquista managed to score enough hits to render it unable to fly.”

“A pity, but our plans were made without the Monoceros in mind.” General Garmont responded to Louise. “So we won't be hurt overmuch there...... Are the ship's weapon's at least operational.”

Louise frowned for a moment before turning to her companion. “Tora are the launchers operational?”

“Yes, weren't damaged.... But not much shot for them.”

Louise turned back to them. “They work, but we don't have much in the way of munitions for them.”

“So best not to rely on it. At the very least it should deter Reconquista from attacking for a short while.” Henrietta hoped Garmont was right on that.

“Though I do have one question Louise, where did you acquire the Monoceros?”

“Uhhh.....” Louise stalled for a moment. “We, uh liberated it.”

“Louise did you engage in Piracy!!!” Karin could be quite loud when she wished to be.

“Technically it was Privateering as I am an agent of the crown.”

“That doesn't make it any better!” Henrietta let herself slump in the chair while her head came to rest in her hand. “Just who did you drag us into war with?”

“They were pirates! And it was their only ship. So we won't have to worry about them ever again.”

Henrietta turned to Sheba. “It mostly fits. A band of scoundrels with a reputation of raiding ships, killing the crew and making off with the cargo. They've even been known to raid settlements from time to time.” She sensed that their were a few activities being left out, but they certainly sounded like this group were pirates in at least some capacity.

“None of the nations of Alrest will complain that we took their ship.... We were even working with one of them to clear them out of a base they had set up.” Alrest? The name of the continent where Louise ended up? Henrietta glanced over at Tora, she wondered what an entire people of his would look like, Louise must have felt like a giant amongst them. Sheba gave a huff and sipped some more tea.

“Clearing out Pirates. She really does take after you Karin.”

“Centurion.....” Duchess Valliere sent her husband a glard.

Letting out a muffled cough. “I take that to mean that you won't be able to get the ship flying again easily.”

“...Yes.... Professor Colbert...... He might be able to help..... I know he was experimenting with things.”

Colbert, she couldn't say the name meant anything to her. “I will make enquiries.” If he was employed at the Academy shaking him loose could prove, troublesome. Though it wouldn't hurt to ask. “It does sound as though you've had quite the adventure.”

“Yes, that would be one way of looking at it.”

“One we would rather our master didn't repeat. Princess, if our memory recalls correctly you are a student of healing magic?”

“Yes, though I would recommend someone more, experienced. I take it Louise didn't come back without a few injuries.”

“Sheba I'm fine, there----” Her friend was cut off when Sheba smacked one arm into her Masters back. Louise let out a short pained shriek before collapsing onto the table and letting out a series of pained moans.

“Blade healing hasn't been able to keep up with the injuries our master has gained over the course of our adventure.” Blade? She would have to enquire further, later. For now it seemed as though Louise needed a healer...... Henrietta looked over to her childhood friend, just what had she gotten up to.

“I'll see what can be arranged.” Movement drew her attention as an aide came up to General Garmont and spoke something quickly and quietly into his ear.

“I'm afraid I must take my leave.”

“General?”

“Reconquista is on the move again.” The General stood up and followed the aide out.

Henrietta let out a sigh. “I suppose that means it's time to return to this war.”

“Back to war it is then, it would be most embarrassing if Reconquista caught us drinking tea.” Duke de Valliere got up, followed a moment later by his wife.

Louise had gotten up as well and moved over to her side, once there she bowed slightly. “I am at your command Princess.”

Of course she was, ever the loyal friend. “Go to the healers tent, and I will hear no objections. If Sheba says you are injured I will trust her. I have no doubt you will serve me faithfully, but I will not have you do so injured.”

Louise's face turned into a bout. “Fine.... I'll keep Tora with me. He tends to get up to mischief when not supervised.” Louise set about gathering her 'weapon's along with Tora and his maid before departing..... Did she even know where the healers tent was?

Sheba lingered behind, watching her master walk away. “Are you going---”

“She loves you.” Sheba's statement caught her off guard. Sheba turned to her and continued. “Our master loves you more than anything else on any world. Anything you ask of her, she will do.”

“I see.”

“Do you. Do you truly understand what it means to have someone who will hang onto your every word with baited breath. Someone willing to do anything for you, to die for you. For us Louise is that person. For our master that is you.” Henrietta stayed silent, unsure of what to say. “Betray that faith, that trust. Abuse the love our master has for you, then before we return to a core.....” Sheba moved in closer. “I. Will. End. You.”

...............................

Morag Ladair strode into the lounge, her dark blue cloak billowing behind her.

“How was it?” She turned to the first occupant of the lounge, the dark skinned and well built Urayan Vandham. He had divested himself of his usual green armour, and instead lounged in his brown travel pants and green boots, behind his seat stood his Blade Roc. The bipedal avian standing with his hands behind him, red feathered wings shifting slowly.

“Thank Niall we're not at war.” She dropped herself down in between her Blades Perun and Kora who had claimed one of the couches for her. Her first Blade, Brighid shut the door and went over to the counter to pour her and her Blades some tea.

“That bad.”

“Senator Roderich is pushing the incident as an Uryan plot, and I'm afraid he has more than a few others backing him. Have you no word from her?”

Vandham shook his head. “She hasn't turned up since the raid, no one's seen Torna or Bana since as well.”

“Roderich has gotten people convince that Louise is working with them, and by extension Uraya. Then there are the rumours of the Aegis....”

“Which she doesn't have.”

“I know, Niall knows.... But trying to convince the others, even the Praetorium is convinced that Louise is the driver of the Aegis.” Most likely on the word of their errand boy, Zeke, the exiled prince of Tantal.

“So, unless we can get the real Aegis no one's going to believe us...... Just great.”

“Not necessarily, Brighid just so happens to have a picture of the Aegis in her diary, it should be enough to convince the Praetorium. But you're right in that others will be harder to convince without the true Aegis around...... Do any of the rumours about her return lead to somewhere other than Louise?”

Vandham gave a shake of his head. “At least the ones that the Garfont Mercenaries have looked into, seems like the Aegis is still lost. I take it things aren't any better on your side was well.” She gave a nod. Brighid also choose that moment to return, setting out tea for the two of them.

“No. The Journal has no clues as to where the Aegis might have been hidden. As far as we've been able to discern, Brighid had returned to her core by that time. So unless there are more leads from that time, I'm afraid we're out of leads on that front.”

Vandham frowned for a moment. “I'll ask Cole if he has any leads he can give us.” Cole? She would have to look into him.

A thought occurred to her. “Do you think Louise went for the World Tree? She had mentioned wanting to visit at some point......”

“Perhaps.....”

A knock came from the door. “Come in.” The door opened and one of Vandham's mercenaries entered.

“Got something for you boss.” The merc came in and handed Vandham a small package. “Was spotted by a ship going from Gormott to Mor Ardain, about a day ago.”

Vandham opened the package and looked at the contents before letting out a low chuckle. “Well, we know where Torna went..... Might even still be in the area.... Maybe.” He let out another chuckle before tossing what he was looking at over to her.

She picked it up and looked over it, a slight smile forming on her face. It was a picture, of what appeared to be Torna, upon what could be very generously referred to as a raft, though was mostly likely a log. “Well, this does look like the most opportune time to defeat them once and for all.”

“Heh, thinking the same thing. Though we probably want to keep our distance, don't want to pick up any strays while we're out there.” And after they were gone all that would be left was the now ex-Chairman of Argentum.

.......................................

Darus was a simple man. He tended to the fields, paid his share in taxes to the local lord and kept his nose out of business that wasn't his. It was a simple life, but an uncomplicated one.

So one when the farm animals started bolting in every direction but the barn he was at a little bit of a loss. The forest had been swept clear of wolves and orks not long ago, so it couldn't be that. Looking around his eyes spotted movement in the distance.

Turning to focus on it he witnessed an entire mountain range coming free from the earth and rise into the sky.

 

[ATP]

Well,Henrietta need son,so she could not marry Louise.

 

[sander093]

So, I meant to get this out back in May.... Yeah that didn't happen. A bit of a side story.

Tales from Alrest
The sound of footsteps echoed out across the Olethro Playhouse. Finally, the old man had left him waiting long enough. Malos rose from the pillar he had been leaning on, his blade Sever fell in behind. Nearby Orbana circled lazily above where Akhos stood with the girl held tightly in his grip. Mythra was always a softie like that, such a human thing, running into an obvious trap for a stupid human kid.

The old man walked out of the tunnel and into the basin of the playhouse, his eyes flicking around, slowing for a moment on where Akhos stood with the kid. His eyes eventually found Malos, settling there.

“Malos, so you've returned have you.” Malos didn't miss the pair of dagger-pistols in the man's hands, red gem on each standing out. “Let my granddaughter go.” Malos noted the pair who had followed him, a short human with shoulder length pink(?) hair and a blade. So the old man brought along some help.

“Where's the Aegis, Minoth” He didn't feel like beating around the bush.

“Adam never informed me where he hid her, and I felt no inclination to ask or seek out answers. Now, my granddaughter.” Minoth glanced between Akhos and Malos, clearly trying to find a way to get the kid back.

“We know she's in Fonsa Myma. So don't bother lying.”

Minoth blinked a few times..... “She has not approached me if that's the case.” Really, had Mythra really not even sought out her old companion..... No she would have made a beeline for the old man.

“Getting tired of your excuses. Now where is Mythra.” He took a step forward with each word.

“I do not know Malos, and I hope you never find her.”

Malos let out a sigh. “So you aren't going to cooperate then. A pity, that just means I'm going to have to beat it out of you.” Sever's sword falling nicely into his hand.

Before he could get around to finally doing something useful he was forced to block an ether blast from the blade the old man had brought along. Huh, looked like the blade was using the ether cannon herself, not many stuck to the old ways. Made Orbana's ability less effective though.

Minoth let out a tsk. “Sheba take your driver and run, you're no match for him.”

Hmm, something sensible. “You should pay more attention to yourself old man.” Minoth barely managed to get his daggers up to block Sever's blade that Malos had swung horizontally. Easy enough to read, but with a bit of power behind it, didn't want this to end too quickly after all. “Akhos” He gestured to the brat and blade. “Drop the girl and deal with the brat.”

Orbana shot up in the air and activated her power, disrupting the flow of ether in the surrounding air. He could immediately tell that the old man had been affected, his movement's slowed which allowed Malos to knock aside his guard and deliver a kick to his midsection that sent him sprawling. And if what he was hearing from Akhos's taunting was true the other pair wasn't doing well either.

“So much for one of Adam's retainers.” A high pitched shout and the girl ran over to where the old man was crumpled on the ground, his daggers having been knocked away. He stepped up to the fallen man, his hand reaching out and snatching up the girl as she tried to move past him. Lifting her up he looked down at Minoth. “Seems old age caught up to you. Hmpf.... Heard rumours that we both share a driver, funny that. You and me, awakened from the same driver....”

“I'm nothing like you Malos.” Huh, seemed the old man wasn't quite out of it yet.

“Hah, of course you aren't. You're just a regular blade corrupted by Almathus's experiments, where I was crafted by the Architect himself. Now I'm going to ask you once more nicely, where is Mythra? Stay silent, and I start cutting up the kid.” He made his intent clear by pressing Sever's blade next to the girls neck.

An unintelligible shout followed by a loud bang a moment before Orbana's field vanished. What? He turned just in time to see Orbana fly haphazardly over the edge of the Playhouse. Akhos shouting her name echoed around the playhouse for a few moments as his gaze snapped to the where the pink haired brat's blade had knocked Akhos back a bit. The brat shouted something and waved a stick around, a stick! Then a loud bang echoed out and Akhos went flying after Orbana.

The brat had just sent Orbana and Akhos flying with a stick, a stick! He let out a laugh at the absurdity of it. A flesh eater and blade being beaten by some brat with a stick of all things. The brat shouted something at him and pointed the stick vaguely in his direction, a quick step had him out of what he presumed the brat's aim was..... Only for nothing to happen? The brat was still yelling.... Something struggling in his hand drew his attention.... Oh that's what it was..... He still had the kid and the brat wasn't willing to use... whatever that was with the kid nearby.

He let out a laugh, dumb brat. That's why we would win in the end, those who stood against it couldn't do what was neccesary.

“Unhand her you brute.” He looked at the brats blade who had aimed their ether cannon at him.

“Hmmm.... Nahhh. Goody two shoes like you aren't going to do anything that might hurt the kid.” He put Sever's sword to the kid's neck to emphasize his point. “Now I couldn't get anything out of the old man, so tell me. Where's the Aegis.”

The blade blinked for a moment. “Who?”

Rage, black rage was all he felt. His arms whipped outwards, sending the kid flying to one side while he took a step forwards blade swinging forwards. Enough of this, if they stood in his way then they would die first. “Sever.” His blade was just a step behind him as he strode forwards towards the pair....

Then he was leaping to one side, Sever the other as the brat waved that stick again, causing the spot he had just occupied to explode. The brat had to go down and fast..... Unfortunately for him, the brat's blade before he could reach them. Sever's sword crashed into an ether cannon, tsk this was going to take too long...

“Out, of my way!!!” Violently twisting Sever's sword he wrenched the ether cannon free of the blade's grasp and sent it clattering away towards the edge of the arena. He immediately followed up with a kick that sent the blade tumbling several meters away, driver first.

Another bang echoed out and Malos watched as Sever was sent flying out of the playhouse, that particular trick was starting to get on his nerves. He charged towards the brat, ducking sideways when they brought the stick around, not this time brat. He got close enough to strike and wasted no time in striking....

Only to have Sever's sword be slowed enough to miss by a stream of water.... One that ended or started at the tip of the stick the brat was holding..... Huh, he reversed his grip and blew apart the stream before slugging the brat hard enough to send them flying. The brat's blade had been a water element one...... Was the stick of all things a blade weapon? Pushing the thought out of his mind he began to march forwards to finish off the damn brat once and for all. The sound of rapid footfalls coming from the side alerted him to the incoming attack from the brat's blade.

Dodging to the side he swung the Sever's sword in a quick horizontal slash, which he intended to follow up with a few more strikes. Instead the sword in his hands caught the blade in the neck, the ether coating the sword allowing it to cut through the flesh and bone with ease. For good measure he gave the body and kick to knock it away. And finally he could deal with the brat.

Who was shouting something, and hefting their blade's ether cannon. He let out a snort, the cannon was useless without a blade powering it. “And just what do you intend to do with that, brat.” He held out his arms out to his sides, a bit open, but it wasn't like the brat could do anything more than shout.

He barely got out a barrier as the cannon glowed purple, and send a torrent of.... energy at him. Pushing him back, then sending him flying into the air. After a short moment he was flying over the edge of the playhouse and out of the Urayan titan. Striking out with the sword he found purchase in the cliff and brought his fall to a stop.

Looking upwards.... it was a little too far to climb up if he would be forced to use the sword for grip. Down was the deceptively timid white puffy clouds of the cloud sea, yeah falling from this height would hurt even if he didn't smash into any outcroppings hidden beneath the white clouds. Damn brat, and whatever that blast was.

“So, come here often.” Malos turned to the side to look at where Akhos was perched precariously on a small lip in the cliff, barely large enough for his heels to rest on. Orbana was hanging off one of his legs, swaying slowly back and forth. He then spotted Sever, the blade having found some decent claw holds to hold on with.

“Just great.”

....................................

Ozchlyrus Brounev Tantal, leaned back on the tree, his black cloak fluttering lightly in the wind. Pandoria his blade stood nearby, her tail swinging back and forth, the bulb on the end letting out an occasional spark. The two of them had been out here on an errand for the Preator Amalthus, rumour was abound about the return of the Aegis, and he was to investigate those rumours. Arriving in Uraya they had picked up rumours of the Aegis leaving the capital and heading towards the head. So the two of the had staked out a spot on the main road a few days away away from the capital.

It had been two days since then and no sign of their wayward pair. Pandoria had brought up that perhaps they were on a false lead, but well.... It was the only lead they had at the moment, so they were going to wait here.... At least for a little while longer. Talking to a few of the travellers had gotten them some news, mainly about a fight at the Olethro playhouse, then some stuff about the ongoing Urayan-Ardanian tensions and finally rumours about the return of the Aegis.

Sadly no one they had talked to had been able to provide any useable details, just rumours and hearsay.

“My Prince, they're almost here.” Pandy's voice brought him back, and he did not almost trip on his own two feet.

“Get our cloaks.” It was necessary for his introduction to the Aegis, legend said that it was how the hero Adam had introduced himself to Aegis. And being descended from the heroes line..... He would be dishonouring his ancestor if he didn't follow tradition. After garbing himself in a brown cloak, and checking that Pandy had done the same he stepped up to the lookout spot.

From there he could see the pair walking down the road, a blade and their driver no doubt. The blade was clear, riding in a tub of water(?), two large blonds hair drills came down her back, and most importantly was the green crystal in the center of her chest. Right where the Preator had said.

He quickly looked over to the driver, the girl (or boy?) was short.... With short pink hair and wearing some worn travelling clothes. Hmmm, not carrying their blades weapon? Odd.... Well he would be seeing how they fought soon enough. Waiting until the pair was in the right position he lept out into their path with Pandy, making doubly sure to strike a good pose while doing so. To continue on the pair would have to pass through him and Pandy, with a cliff, where he had been watching from, on one side and a long drop on the other.

“I think that's far enough.” The pair in front of him came to a sudden stop, surprise written across their faces. “Looks like all the chat about the Aegis was true.” The driver turned to the blade and spoke.... In a language he couldn't even begin to place..... Now Zeke was well aware of how much education he had skipped out on..... But he had insured that he knew every language in Alrest, kind of a job requirement to being the Praetor's errand boy. Then the blade responded in kind, prompting a quick back and forth.

Zeke was just beginning to tap his foot in annoyance when the blade finally turned to them. “Just who are you?” A grin found a way onto his face, this was the perfect moment, throwing off the hood of the cloak he was wearing he gave the pair his best grin. The blade just raised an eyebrow, while the driver looked to the blade in confusion.

Well good thing he had a back up plan for just such an occasion. “You really are a rinky-dink, bogus two-bit, no-mark driver, aren't you?” Taking a step forwards, he began his introduction. “Behold the mighty.... Zeke! Von! Genbu! Bringer of Chaos!” He kept walking towards the pair, the occasional bit of spittle flying from his mouth. “Mostly known a Zeke. And often addressed as.... THE ZEKENATOR!” After the last proclamation he dropped back next to Pandy and began her introduction.

“Behold my Blade! Pandoria!” Then drawing the sword from his back. “And this is my sword, the purple Lightning Dreamsmasher! If you want a taste, come and get it!” The blade looked at him and blinked a few times before turning to her driver and saying something in that new language the two of them must have come up with themselves. The driver let out a sigh before muttering something back and the two of them began to walk past him.

“Wait! You barbarians! Just where do the two of you think, you're running off to.” Moving quickly he moved in front of them, Pandy mirroring his movements. He spotted the drivers eyebrow twitch an instant before they drew forth something from their sleeve and then the ground in front of him exploded. Darting back he opened up enough room to avoid the blade following up with a series of shots from an ether cannon. “Ha, so that's how you want to play this. Pandy.”

“Yes my Prince.” A moment later he felt ether flow into him, sparks dancing along the length of his sword. Charging forwards he swung his sword in a horizontal slash, a bit telegraphed, but right now he was testing the driver not aiming for a killing blow just yet. The driver backpedaled while waving around..... A stick? He had to abort his swing as a stream of water went through where his head would have been.

That had been an odd attack, no visible ether link between the blade and driver..... And he had never even heard of a stick being a blade weapon before, maybe and Aegis thing? But wouldn't everyone know about it then? He sidestepped another stream of water, this one going for his chest. Or perhaps the legend was, recorded a bit different to how it happened, after all a sword was a far more imposing weapon than a stick. One of Pandy's barriers popped up around him blocking several ether cannon blasts. Once the barrage let off he was charging forwards again, sparks dancing along his sword, no more wide attacks this time.

As he charged in he kept the sword close to his body as the driver swung their stick around sending globs of water into his path. Cracking a smirk he waited until he was surrounded by the globs before letting loose the ether stored up in the sword. Arcs of lighting shot out out of the sword striking the globs of water around him, popping all of them and showering the area in a fine mist of water.

Then the electricity he had sent into the air flowed through the mist and back to him. Quickly jumping to the side to avoid being struck by his own attack. “Heh, not bad. But I can do better.” The driver looked surprised, stumbling back towards the drop, perfect. Focusing ether into his blade he prepared his ultimate attack. “You think you're good, but can you handle my super-ultra-mega-move!” Arcs of lightning began flowing off of him in every direction, some forcing the driver back closer to the drop. “Ultimate Lighting Fury Slash!”

He flew forwards, the passing air causing his cape to ruffle majestically. The driver kept trying to backpedal away, but was quickly running out of room.

Then just as he was about to strike they tripped backwards, causing his strike to thunder over them, followed a moment later by himself. Tch lucky, turning quickly he moved to get turned around..... Only to have his feet find empty air, he then made the mistake of looking down, to see the pools of Urya's stomach layed out before him. Slowly rolling over he just managed to make out the edge of the cliff receding from him, when Pandy lept over the edge after him.

....................................

Theory leaned back against the rock they were using to hide themselves from sight of the main road, arms crossed and doing her best to remain still. The blue crystals that stuck made so much noise when they struck the rock. Her one eye observing what little could be seen of the main road from where she was, it wasn't a great position, but it was very hard to see from the road, and it didn't leave any spot where someone could sneak by.

“Are you sure they're coming this way?” She looked over to where Praxis, her sister blade, was pacing back and forth, the attachments on her armour bouncing with each step.

“Only path they can take if they want to reach Garfont, unless they intend on doubling back a lot.” Her driver Waldemar interrupted her sisters worrying. “Besides, this is the Aegis we're talking about, an extra day or two is well worth the payout.” The Aegis, supposedly the strongest blade in all off Alrest, Theory scoffed a bit, after a few centuries she expected the legend to have been, embellished a little. A traitorous part of her mind reminded her that the pair was travelling alone, something only the truly strong would do.

“Are we even sure it's the Aegis? I mean it's been five hundred years and she hasn't shown up before, so could it be someone trying to cash in for a bit of fame.” A possibility, but given that no one had tried that before made her doubt that particular theory a bit.

“Even if by some chance it's not, we'll still be getting a good blade out of it.....” She cut her driver off with a wave of her hand. Praxis and Waldemar looked at her. Straining her ears she could just make out voices, though too distant to make out what was being said. “That them.”

“Maybe. We should get ready.” Poking her head out a head to get a better look she spotted a pair of figures walking down the road. It was a little far to make out any fine details, like say a green core crystal. But she could make out that one of the figures had very long and fancy hair, and in what looked like a water construct, the blade unless she was mistaken. So the driver then, rough clothes, out on the road long by the looks of it, medium length reddish hair, looked short, heh easy mark. “If we're quick it might not even be a fight.”

“Heh, good. Theory when there at the right spot give the signal.” She gave her driver a nod in return and went back to watching the pair walk painfully slow down the road. Though she would be patient, lest the mark get away, Waldemar had been particularly rough the night after that one incident. As the pair got closer she went to one knee, hopefully making it harder for her to be spotted, behind her Waldemar and Praxis shifted into more concealing positions.

As the pair were about to walk by she lept from her hiding spot, sword at the ready, Praxis and Waldemar just behind her. Unfortunately they didn't have perfect surprise as the blade was already bringing an ether cannon around, while the driver pulled something from their sleeve. Ether, best to get in close as fast as possible there, and the driver had pulled out a stick........ This was going to be easy----

She had to roll to the side to avoid a narrow jet of water that shot past her leaving a shallow graze on her cheek.

[Driver Status: CRITICAL]

And then catch Waldemar in the throat, sending a spray of blood everywhere. “NOOOOOO!!!!” Coming out of her roll she resumed her charge, pointedly ignoring the motes of blues light beginning to emanate from her form. Her first sword swing was met by another jet of water from the driver, but she powered through it, and the next one, and the next..... Her rage pushed her forwards, driving her opponent back with her swings, the water that they tried to use to stop her being smashed aside, droplets of water spraying through the air. Then she was on top of the driver, her blade arcing in for a strike on their neck, and even backpedalling as they were they wouldn't be able to avoid it.....

[Driver Connection: Lost;
Return to Core: START]

Only to have them trip backwards, leaving her sword to claim a few hairs instead. No matter, there was no escape as she recovered and moved to stand over the prone driver while her blade swung towards the pink haired head.

...............................................

Everything hurt as Praxis looked up at the cliff she had been dumped off of. Where Theory was, alone and unable to defend herself after those bastards killed Waldemar. She willed her body to move, but with one leg outright gone, the other cut off at the knee, an arm gone along with half her head, she wasn't going anywhere soon.

By the time she pulled herself together those bastards would be long gone, taking Theory with them....

Theory.... A small drop of water rolled away from her remaining eye.

...............................................

“Boss, we got someone coming to the gate.” Vandham looked up from the knife he had been tuning up, to see Zuo approaching him. “Don't look like trouble... But you know how things can be different than they look.” Roc, his humanoid avian blade standing silent off to the side.

“Yeah.” Sheathing the knife Vandham got up and began to make his way towards the gate of Garfont that Zuo had been assigned to for the day, Zuo and Roc falling in behind him. As he approached the inner side of the gate he noted how there were more tents set up behind it than had been there last time he had taken note. If ever there was a sign of the times that was it, so many people fleeing broken titans, and things only looked to be getting worse.

Arriving at the gate the guards stationed there gave him a nod and opened the great wooden doors for him. Striding through he quickly spotted the people Zuo had told him about, a quick look then told him they were the driver and blade old man Cole had mentioned pointing his way. A short pink haired driver, and a blonde fancy haired blade.... Nothing had been mentioned about a green core crystal though..... Cole had sent the Aegis his way?

Maybe, it was clear to Vandham that at least a few of the old man's stories about the Aegis war were first hand recounts of someone who was there, rather than recounting the stories of others. Which meant the old man knew the Aegis at least in part, so why hadn't he mentioned that in his missive? Vandham shook his head, no use trying to figure that out now, he could check for himself.

Though looking at how miserable the pair looked, his usual method would have to be shelved for now. Time for a different approach now.

He moved up until he was just in front of the pair, Roc standing just behind him. “So, you're the newby Cole sent my way.”

He was a bit surprised when it was the blade who answered. “Perhaps, the playwright Cole did send us out to seek aid from one named Vandham.”

“Yeah, that's me. Anything in particular.” He looked to the driver for an answer.

Again it was the blade that answered. “We find ourselves in need of coin, and were informed that you had need of services that we could render.”

“So a job then, we can always use more hands, too much work, too few people and all that. Why don't we sit down over some tea and hash out something, Miss.....”

It took a few moments but the blade got his cue. “Ah, our name is Sheba.” The blade then turned to the drive and spoke in a language Vandham couldn't place.

The driver took a step forwards and did a little curtsey straight out of the Urayan court. “Louis Francoise le Blanc de la Valliere.” ...Well now, that was a bit of a mouthful, nobles didn't even have names that long....

“Right, if the two of you will follow me.” He led them inside the village, and towards the official-unofficial cafe right outside of his headquarters. Being who he was it was easy enough to get a seat for the four of them. Then the blade took off their cloak, the green gem coming with it and set in on the back of her chair. With the cloak out of the way Vandham could see the silver crystal embedded on her collar.

So not the Aegis then..... A blade with a silver core, and a driver that spoke in a language Vandham couldn't even place..... So that's what Cole's letter had been referring to when he said he was sending an 'interesting' pair to him.

 

[sander093]

Treacherous Footing
Conscious slowly returned to Charlotte. Painfully bright lights that she could see even with her eyes closed, and nice and fluffy sheets enveloping her. She stayed there for a moment cursing whoever was responsible for that blasted light.... Aches and pains scattered up and down her body began to draw her attention..... Why was everything sore.....

Then it came back to her, the throne room, her uncle....... Something crashing into her back..... Her arm.... Forcing her eyes open, to a white blur..... Of course she didn't have her glasses, but after a few moments she was at least able to make out the blurry form of her own body. Including where her right arm ended in a white wrapped stump halfway down her shoulder to her elbow. Gingerly she brushed the end of the stump with her left hand, it felt.... odd. An odd ache came from it when she tried to move the arm that wasn't there anymore.... A soft sigh escaped her lips, something she would have to get used to.

The rest of her body is covered with patches of white, and given the texture, bandages of some sort.... Likely for the injuries she received when Sylphid knocked her down..... And given that the bandages where the only thing she had on, Isabella was the likely the one who had taken her. She suppressed a shudder at just what her cousin wanted from her, and what was likely to have been done to her while she was unconscious. She hoped Sylphid and Caeus were okay, and while part of her put some blame for what happened on her familiar's 'weapon', she had been moments away from striking down her uncle herself.

She easily found the door to the room, and was planning on how to go about tracking down her familiar, when said door opened and admitted a pair of people. She recognized the first as her cousin Isabelle, and the other one was dressed as a maid, whom she didn't recognize. “Well I see you're finally awake my dear cousin.” Isabella greeted her.

Charlotte merely gave a curt nod while covering herself with the sheets of the bed.

“As talkative as always I see.” Isabella turned to the maid for a moment. “I will need to speak to her alone for a few minutes.” The maid gave a short bow and then left the room, closing the door behind them.

“What do you want.” Charlotte felt it best to get straight to the reason Isabella had taken her.

“Can't I just say hello to my dear cousin who has been out of the country for almost a year.” Charlotte narrowed her eyes. “Fine, you're no fun. You made quite the display with your familiars, killing the king. While I will acknowledge that my father was rather antagonistic, particularly towards you, committing regicide still carries a strict sentence.”

“Then why haven't you carried out the sentence yet.” Not that Charlotte was particularly keen on being subject to that sentence.

“Officially I have. But, I also learned of all the things my father had you doing, Tabitha. Unofficially I think I can make use of you, as the Queen of Gallia. See, while I may be acknowledged as queen officially, I have no true allies, and plenty of nobles looking to place a husband of their choosing on the throne. Someone who will rule as they wish, and set me aside. And no, not taking a husband is not an option, no matter how much I wish it was. Beyond merely providing an heir, leaving the position open, will invite a contest to see who can fill it. So I have a proposal for you.”

A quest to find a suitable husband for Isabella? An odd one for sure..... Grab one of the boys from the academy? Seemed the simplest and quickest solution, though finding one Isabella approved of would be trickier.

Isabella moved in closer. “Stand in as my husband and I will keep your head attached to your shoulders.”

“...What.... I can't..... The church would never approve....” That seemed to be one of the quickest ways to have them both killed, short of openly conspiring with Elves!!

“Well then, they just won't be allowed to find out then.”

“It is always found out.” Hmm, perhaps she should agree, then ride off on Sylphid at the first opportunity, grabbing her mother as well could prove difficult. Perhaps head to the Zerbst estate.... No, if Isabella knew about Tabitha, then Kirche would be the first one she investigated..... No matter where she went after escaping all that would matter would that she would be far away from Isabella.

A loud knock echoed from the door, cutting off any reply from Isabella. Isabella grumbled under her breath, “this had better be important,” then got up from the bed and went over to the door. Charlotte took the moment to cover herself better with the sheets.

Isabella opened the door and snatched away a piece of paper offered to her, face twisted into a grimace. Though as Isabella began to read, the colour drained away from her face until, she was finished and numbly set the paper down. That didn't bode well, for Isabella, and until she got safely away, her as well.

“Not even going to ask what that was about?” She just returned a shrug to Isabella's question. “Ha, you've probably been planning your escape the entire time haven't you. Even a plan to snatch your mother away as well.” Was Charlotte that easy to read? Isabella grabbed the paper and tossed it towards her. “It may not matter anymore. Three mountains have ripped themselves from the ground in the past month, two came crashing back down, but the last one vanished. And that's just Gallia, there are rumours swirling about the same thing happening across the rest of the realms.”

“What does it mean.”

“I don't know. But if this continues..... We might not have any land left to live on.”

..................................

Scarron ducked into the shallow trench as shot flew overhead. How had it come to this, he was just a simple proprietor of a moderately successful inn. Yet here he was stuck in a muddy field as people he had never had the chance of knowing tried to kill him. What a waste war was. And he was only here because he had been curious about the glowing blue rock, a rock that had turned into Kruz, an ever helpful pair of hands. Though he was the reason Scarron had been dragged off to war.

Something heavy landed near him, sending him sprawling, he felt several sharp spikes of pain blossoming on his arm, alongside causing his ears to ring. Looking down he could see where a few pieces of shrapnel had torn through his shirt and into his arm, red blood already leaking out, he could vaguely make out someone yelling nearby. Numbly he reached out with his good arm, and tried to wipe away the blood, having worked in a kitchen he was no stranger to cuts.... But never this many at once.

Reaching into a pocket he pulled out a handkerchief, it would be better than nothing. Trying to tie up his bleeding arm with one hand however proved trickier than if he had both.

“Boss.” Scarron stopped wrapping for a moment and looked up at Kruz, who arrived. “That looks bad boss.”

“It is. But it doesn't look like a vein or bone was hit, so I should be good once it's been cleaned.” He was cut off from anything else by a nearby explosion which caused Kruz to tackle him to the ground.

“We got incoming.” And that was the other thing that was promised, being the master of a 'weapon' meant that he was supposed to be at the rear, not in the thick of the fighting. Kruz threw a barrier that flashed gold from a trio of golden shots, before returning the attack with a short barrage of shots from his own cannon. A bright flash signalled Kruz's barrier collapsing, and leaving Scarron temporarily blind. “Duck---”

He couldn't tell if was fast enough throwing himself deeper into the ground. “Are you injured?”

Looking up he couldn't make out much about the figure above save that they were short, with a matching head of pink hair. “Karin?” His mind then helpfully reminded him that the woman in question was no longer short.

“How do you know my mother.” As his vision sharpened, while it wasn't Karin above him, the girl certainly could pass for her.

“Alas I'm afraid the woman in question has sworn me to secrecy.” A look of irritation passed over the girl's features. He held out his injured arm. “Yes I've appeared to acquired a fair few scratches.”

“Let me.” The girl knelt down next to him, water coalescing around her sword wand. “Doesn't look to bad.” She then passed the sword wand over his arm, immediately he could feel the pain the receding. “Should be good now. Now....” She turned to look at something he couldn't see from where he was. “Looks like I'll have to deal with he.... Theory, with me.”

And with that she charged off, quickly getting to his feet his gaze followed the girl where she was charging. One of Reconquista's 'weapon's was leading a formation of troops in his rough direction, so that was who was attacking them. The 'weapon' fired off a series of shots at the charging girl, another figure who had been charging with the girl stepped up in front, a golden barrier appearing and stopping the shot cold.

The two parties squared off for a moment, the pink haired girl wearing rough worn leather. The 'weapon' beside her carrying a large single edged played and wearing a blue tabbard dotted with glowing blue spikes. Against the pair, the 'weapon' leading the enemy was carrying an oversized musket, and wearing something akin to a navy blue sailor's uniform with a skirt rather than pants. A few dozen Reconquista soldiers behind them.

“Just the two of you, and the driver.... Lord Cromwell will be most pleased.”

“Teala..... Cromwell..... So Wales fell, and Reconquista took you.” Water gathered around the girl's sword wand. “I will not let you suffer under him any longer.” With a flick of her wrist the water shot forwards.

“You believe you can take me. Heh, Cromwell will enjoy another addition to his collection.” The Reconquista 'weapon' fired a few shots from her cannon at the girl.

All of which splashed harmlessly into the water, some of the water was scattered about, some landing on the opposing 'weapon'. “My turn.” Drawing a small wand into her offhand the girl pointed it a the water flowing around her. “You won't be the first Blade I've faced in single combat.” Then the water around the sword wand ignited. An ignition that carried over to the water that had landed on the other 'weapon', dousing them in flame. “For the fallen Prince of Wales, I will be taking you back.”

..................................

Vandham looked over the rescue efforts, he had rushed out here after hearing about what had happened. An entire titan appearing in a crash of thunder, the stuff old sailors stories were made of... Yet, it had been witnessed by everyone who had been looking off Uraya's left wing, and entire titan appearing in booming thunder, before crashing down into the cloud sea.

With people still on it apparently, people clinging to whatever they could as their titan sunk into the depths, dragging Architect knows how many more with it. This wasn't the first time he had been present for a titan sinking, but most of the time the people had at least some warning to evacuate. Then there was the language barrier.....

He turned to Yew. “Any idea what they're saying?”

“No, doesn't even sound like what Louise was speaking when she first showed up.” Damn. “Still no word from her?” Vandham shook his head. He hadn't even heard anything about Torna either.... He didn't let his mind wander down that path, he would rather not think what those monsters would do if they got their claws into Louise.

“Boss! Boss!” Vandham turned away from Yew, towards the new voice running in his direction. A messenger. The messenger came to a stop before him and took a few breaths before delivering the message. “A titan just appeared by the Praetorium, nearly smashed into it before falling into the cloud sea. They say there was a clap of thunder and it was just there, and falling.”

Vandham turned back to Yew. “This sounds bad.”

...............................................

An old man looked out the window with weary eyes. The crystal clear windows almost invisible to the human eye, save for the silver-grey frames that separated individual panels, and the soft green glow being reflected on them. The windows looked down on the world, oh so far below. The world he had tried to fix.

The world he had destroyed in his foolish quest for knowledge. He closed his eye, so many mistakes, so many regrets, and had he truly done all he could to restore what he had wrought? A world now coming undone as another was being dropped into it, portals had been appearing dropping chunks of another world into Alrest. Sometimes with people, most times not. Portals like the one that girl had used, save larger in scale. Was it one he had created, or one that had existed before? He had no way to confirm it either way.

He turned to the source of the green glow, the source of his quest, an impossible object. A massive emerald green cross, it's edges beveled slightly and constantly emitting a soft green light. Down on the world below another portal opened, depositing another mountain sized chunk of stone.

“So this is where the ends begins.” There wasn't space for both worlds, one would destroy the other, or failing that, both would be destroyed by this merge. “I suppose this means that my atonement was doomed from the start.” The world he had gone to great lengths to restore life to, and now it was being destroyed by something he could do nothing about.

His thoughts drifted to his old coworker, and the warnings of hers he had refused to heed. “Fools indeed.”

 

[ATP]

Joseph is dead,Izabella is mad,and world is ending.What could go wrong ?
P.S logically it should be destroyed,but if author want,SI could save it.If all other ways fail - just like in old pulpfiction magazines - "thanks to herculean strenght of Will,X win"

 

[sander093]

“So how's this supposed to work exactly.” Zuo looked over the collection of various odds and ends the newest driver to join up with the Garfont mercenaries, had spread out over the table. He had tried asking the pink haired girl in question, Louise, but aside from speaking a language he couldn't understand, the translation from her blade just raised more questions. Something to do with the stick Louise carried around that let her use blade arts, and Louise wanted to build a new one.

Now he wasn't a stranger to using Core Chips and Aux cores to, 'fine tune' how a blade fought. Neither of those used anything present on the table. And he had never heard of a Core Chip, the closest thing to what had been described to him, of changing the type of weapon a blade used.

Louise began to answer him, in her own tongue, which he could at best understand one word in twenty, if any at all. Her blade, Sheba, waited until she had finished speaking before translating for his benefit. “Our master wishes to create and new arts channelling core, for use with a weapon better suited for combat.” Wanted to trade the stick for something better..... Understandable... But how? “Given her unfamiliarity with the ingredients available, she expects it to take a few attempts.” Or she goes to Allain for new cores and see if one of those suited her.

“I get what she's trying to do, mostly. It's the how part that's missing. Now I'm somewhat familiar with how core chips are made, which sounds sort of like what you're doing. But that process involves absolutely nothing here.” Core chips were mostly mined in their raw state then refined into something useful, not made with kitchen utensils and implements, and using various bits of plants and animals.

“It's for our masters persona weapon, not for ours.” He just let out a sigh. A weapon for a human that could use blade arts? Such a thing was the realm of myth, like the Aegis, or the Architect. Well, he may as keep his mouth shut and watch, who knows, there might actually be something here.

It was not even ten minutes later when the first explosion knocked him onto his back.

...............................

Teaka, let his legs dangle over the edge while looking up at the clock, he was still a bit early for his meeting with the escort he had hired for his salvaging mission. His right hand rested on his helmet, an old clunky thing that through tender care and semi-frequent repairs still did it's job. Heh, if all went right on this trip he could afford some upgrades, while the places he could go scavenging on his own were rather limited, an Garfont Mercenary escort would change that.

So he had saved his coins, and when he could put in a request to have a salvage escort for a few dives, with any luck the haul would let him pay back the fee and then some. The clock ticked steadily onwards, and behind it he could see Gormott's head swing slowly back and forth as the titan moved through the cloud sea. Hopefully they sent him someone halfway decent, he had specified what sort of job he was doing so that should guarantee him a driver and blade.

The minutes ticked by to the appointed time, he felt his eyes drawn to a pair walking around nearby, a driver and blade if he wasn't mistaken. Or maybe it was two blades, he had never seen and Ardanian with pink hair, but only one of them had a core crystal.... Though it looked a fair bit darker than those on most blades. And pink hair, really? Must be someone with money to spend on things that didn't matter. The pair was also looking around the area, Ardanian noble business probably......

Though the way they were looking around..... Were those the mercenaries he had hired? Well couldn't hurt to ask, and he hadn't really specified where precisely he was meeting them, merely in the plaza. He grabbed his helmet and hopped of the half wall he had been sitting on. As he approached the pair, the pink haired one kept looking through a pile of papers, then around at the rest of the plaza, while the other one, with two long blonde hair drills sat lazily back in a tub made of water floating just off the ground.

Stopping just in front of the two he loudly cleared his throat then asked. “Are you two from the Garfont Mercenaries.”

The one with pink hair, he couldn't tell if they were a boy or girl, hair was long like how rich girls sometimes wore it, but their chest was flat like a boys. “Oh, yes. We with Garfont.” He cocked his eyebrow, odd way of speaking.

“Teaka, we presume.” The blade had gotten up from they had been reclining and was now leaning over him. A little on the small side, and in an outfit that would scandalize any human girl who wore it, but being a blade wouldn't be out of place.

“Yeah. So ready to head out. The earlier we get going the better.” Meant he could get in a few dives before dark.

“What duties? Tasks not clear.” The pink haired one spoke up.

“Ah, guess it's your first time helping with salvaging then.... Easy enough, just wait at the dive spot until I come back up and deal with any nasties that followed you.” All he got was empty blinks in response until the blade spoke, and what in the Architect's name was that language. Teaka wasn't that well traveled but he for sure had never heard anything like that.

“Understand.” The pink haired one reapplied. He muffled a sigh, worst came to worse he knew a few tricks that would let him avoid having to fight something that outmatched him. With a wave of his hand he got the pair to follow him as he led the way out to the salvaging spot he wanted to dive at.

It took a few hours, but thanks to him planning ahead they arrived at about midday, plenty enough time to get in a few dives before dark. With practiced ease he got his equipment set up, it had been a bit heavy to carry but it was well worth it as it made dragging stuff back up easier. After making sure his line was hooked up he snapped on his helmet and looked over to his hired guards. “Ready to go here.”

“We shall await your return.” And with that he hopped over the edge and into the could sea. White foam quickly gave way to dark-blue as he passed the surface. Then as he went further down his surroundings became even darker, a look back allowed him to see when he passed the underside of the titan, barely visible through the murk. Roughly a third of the way down.....

Sometime later the ocean floor came into view, jagged towers reaching upwards, faint wisps of blue light emanating off them. His objective would be at the base of those towers, usually where the best loot was, though sometimes one could find something further up. Start from the bottom and work his way up.

A few minutes later and he was walking along the bottom, eyes peeled for anything of value, something that didn't take long. The bottom of the could sea was covered in stuff that one could sell for something, the trick was getting it out of the cloud sea and to the people willing to buy it. Though there were a few things that were of more value than the rest, core crystals being chief among them. First he grabbed something to put it all in, something sort of resembling a crate, it was attached to the ground by a quartet of legs and had some unknown markings on it. But it would due, with a quick twist he had removed it from it's legs and could begin filling it.

After the better part of an hour he had managed to fill it enough to make the trip worthwhile, he grabbed the cylinder he had brought down and affixed it to the crate and held on. Once the cylinder was secure to the crate, and himself to both he activated the cylinder. A small balloon popped out and began filling with the compressed air inside the cylinder, lifting both himself and the crate upwards. Several minutes later he was breaching the surface and dragging his finds with him to where he had left his hired guards.

Once his cargo had been counted and secured he went down again. He managed three more trips before he was ready to call it a night. On the last trip he noted something moving below him as he returned, well he had hired the guards for a reason. Upon breaking the surface he moved to himself back onto the titan a bit faster than normal.

And no sooner than he had gotten his loot up a Squood lept out of the could sea behind him. He tried to yell out a warning but the pair were already moving, the driver rushing forwards while drawing a short sword while the blade let loose with a barrage of shots from an ether cannon. The Squood let out a screech and tried to crush the charging driver with a tentacle, and to have the tentacle bounce off a shell of water.

A piercing shriek tore through the air as driver and blade counterattacked, ether bolts from the blade tearing chunks of flesh out, while the shell of water turned into a blade that cut off a tentacle. Then two, the Squood pulled back to save itself from loosing a third limb, and all before he could even get his weapon out. Letting out another ear piercing shriek the Squood charged back in, flailing around it's tentacles to try and strike something.

Teaka backpedalled out of the way, his dinky little sword wouldn't be of much use against a Squood, one of the reasons he didn't want to come out here without an escort. Then one of the tentacles was flying at him, and before he could even shout for help the blade was there, golden barrier surrounding the two of them and stopping the attack dead. Then without missing a beat the blade raised her ether cannon and put several shots into the offending appendage, then a blade of water from the driver severed the tentacle where the shots had hit.

The water blade then came around and nearly took the Squood's head off, only reeling back at the last moment to avoid a fatal blow. But down a few of it's tentacles it was unsteady and an easy target for the blade who put an overcharged shot right into it's head, finishing it off and causing what was left to collapse into a fleshy heap. That had been, quick... For a beast that he would never had stood a chance against on his own, to be downed that fast.

The driver was sheathing their blade, a faint sheen of sweat on their face, heh barely any effort. The power of driver and blade, a pity he couldn't awaken blades of his own, his one attempt having nearly killed him. He began to walk over grab whatever the Squood had dropped, they like all other sea life that tried to make meals of salvagers often keep a small collection of shiny trinkets. Trinkets that could earn one some decent money if one could fell the beast that kept them. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted a faint blue light on the ground, almost covered by the now dead Squood.

Quickly walking over to it, he reached down and pulled out the source of the light. A core crystal, worth a lot if he could find a seller before the army searched his haul..... He looked at the driver he had hired, maybe there was another option....

He approached the driver, core in hand. “Hey, found something you might be interested in.” He held out the crystal. “Not much use to me, and a bit of a pain to sell, but for a driver, I'm sure you can find a use for it. But it is worth a fair bit...... So if you're willing I'm willing to pay you with this core crystal instead.....”

The driver stayed silent for a moment..... “Not worth all the pay.... But maybe part.....” Teaka could say that he walked away from this run satisfied.

..........................................

Awareness returned to her. She was standing behind Beary's, hugging tightly to his torso, his soft white fur pressing into her face. Peaking out from behind him she took in her new driver. “Pleased to meet you. I'm Ursula.” Bearing stood up and with a wave of his hands sent snowflakes into the air around them. With a giggle she made a circle around him before hoping up and into his lap, and then turned back to look at her driver. “And you are.”

A pair of pink eyes looked thoughtfully back at her, long pink hair fluttered lightly in the breeze. “Louise de la Valliere.”

//AN: It's going to be a bit before the next chapter as there's another fic that's been bouncing around in my head that I want to put to paper and a 'side story' for this one, which means there won't be regular updates for a bit.